Pride and Death
by NarutoNerd
Summary: Post HM. In returning Inoue to the real world Someone is lost in battle, but discovers something new on the other side. Meanwhile an old evil is coming back to haunt the shinigami courts, maybe worse then Aizen. M violence, lang, lemon ch19.
1. Loss

A/N: WELL HELLO EVERYONE!!!! I'm BACK!!! Well sorta. You'll never believe this, but I actually have to do work as part of going to college, worst of all I have actuall work on the side which along with all of those little real life concerns…The point is writing is low priority on my list of stuff to do. I won't burden you all with a list, suffice to say that it's long, and there may be some people reading this that never read my other story so you have no idea who I am or what kind of person I am. So I'll just stick to this story.

Here's the rundown, this thing is placed after Hueco Mundo, and I will be using information up to the most recent chapters in writing concerning character ability, personality, appearance…Excluding the stuff I feel like altering cuz this is fanfiction we're talking about. If you've read my other work you already have an idea of my writing style. If not, heres a basic rundown. Lots of cliffhangers. Lots of action filled fight scenes. Lots of drama.

And just a touch of lemon. There were probably be fewer lemons in this story due to character personalities. Let's face it, there are very few characters in Bleach that get really emotional unless they have some long blade shoved through/slicing through most of their body, but hey that's fairly often so lots of emotions going around. Anyway so the characters are all fairly withdrawn and softening them up to the point where they can feel comfortable with the Horizontal Mambo will take some time. As for the pairs, no details yet. Things I can tell you: No IchRuki (Much as I like this pairing in other fics, I don't think it's the eventual reality, and I did mention trying to stay as close to the characters as possible didn't I?) No IshiOri (This one will pretty obvious if you read the friggen summary, but I like to say anyway. Again, ok elsewhere just not realistic in my opinion.) NO YAOI, PERIOD. (Disgusting. I mean don't take me the wrong way, I don't care what two other guys do to/with each other or what other people write about two guys doing to/with each other but I will never write/read/watch/do anything like any of that. So there you go.) Yuri, maybe, but probably not. (I'm a straight guy I can't help what I'm attracted too, and Bleach has a cannon lesbian running around. Probably not, but I don't know yet for sure if I'll write this stuff. But no OriChizu, not realistic (at least in a two sided manner))

Besides that I'm taking this fanfic in a very different direction from the other one, as I noticed some flaws. When writing the other fic, I used the cannon baddies, and just a few manga issues later I'm aware of how horribly I underestimated said baddies. In an attempt to avoid this and give me some freedom with the story, I will be introducing some new baddies all my own. You heard me, if that offends you fine, I like the bad guys I've made up, and it's so easy to do in Bleach because there are such innumerous ways to give people their abilities and very few limits on what those abilities can be! I may even take suggestions.

Reviews: If you haven't read my previous work (or the work of a few other people who do this thing too) at the beginning of each chapter I will respond to most of the reviews my story has received since the last chapter was posted. I say most and not all because sometimes it's hard to respond. For instance, most of the time I will not respond to "Great story!" or "Keep it up!!" because generic reviews will get only generic responses. Rather, the reviews I respond to will be any that include questions, suggestions, powerful statements, or funny stuff I just feel like talking back to. I also try my hardest to respond to every reviewer at least once (even generic comments). On a side note about the reviews, my favorite kind of review is the kind which seriously and critically insults my work. You heard it folks, flame this story!!! How many times do you have a chance to get away with this without upsetting someone?! The more insults pointed at me the more I'll improve my writing to meet you're standards and the better my writing will become. So INSULT ME!!!

Alright, enough of my babbling. Most of you probably skipped it all anyway, to get right into the story. Whatever, here you go, NarutoNerd's Bleach Fanfic!!

* * *

Chapter 1: Loss

They were breathing heavily. But then, they had earned the right to. Ichigo was exhausted, and was carrying an unconscious but alive Orihime Inoue over his shoulder. The others were all tired, but alive, thanks to Orihime. She had used up so much energy healing Chad and effectively resurrecting Rukia that she had gone unconscious. But here they were, back in the human world, being greeted by Mr. Hat and Clogs himself. "Ahhhh, Kurosaki-san, you made it. Is she alright?"

Ichigo brought her forward so he could see her face. It was a little pale then he remembered, but there was still a rosy color and the sound of her breath. "Yeah, we did it."

He gently placed her on the ground and dropped to sit down. Uryu and the others walked forward and decided to sit down as well. Urahara looked over the group. "Abaria-san, Kuchiki-san, where did you two come from?"

Renji cracked his neck and exhaled sharply. "We figured Ichigo would try something, so we went to help out."

Urahara nodded, he hadn't expected the help, but was very grateful that the two of them had decided to go. At that moment there was another voice heard in the large training area. "Urahara-san? Urahara-san? Can I please go home now? My sister's going to kill…Ichigo?!" Keigo had come into view from behind a rock, bearing many scrapes and bruises and holding onto a strange looking staff. He was looking shocked to see Ichigo and everyone else there. He turned around and started yelling. "HEY EVERYONE!! ICHIGO'S BACK!! AND HE'S GOT ORIHIME AND SADO AND ISHIDA TOO!!"

Tatsuki and Mizuiro ran around the rock, both in the same tired condition that Keigo was in. Tatsuki ran forward quickly. She approached Ichigo and pushed him out of her way so she could check on Orihime. When she realized Orihime was alive she turned back to Ichigo. "Jerk. Thanks."

Ichigo had been a little surprised at first to see his school friends but now he was more curious then anything. Tatsuki was wearing odd redish metallic open finger gloves and the same metallic substance was around her ankles and the top of her feet. Keigo was holding onto a six foot long staff that was silver and reflective. Mizuiro wasn't armed in any way, but he was just as beat up as the other two. "What's going on, and what is this stuff?" He grabbed Tatsuki's hand.

Tatsuki yanked her hand away from Ichigo and looked at it. "Yeah, Urahara's been teaching us to use our spiritual powers."

Ichigo scratched his head. "You guys have spiritual abilities?"

Mizuiro walked up. "Yes, let me explain. Back before you met Rukia and became a Shinigami you still had massive spiritual power, you just didn't know it. It was also difficult to detect, as you would just radiate reiatsu out uncontrollably. Anyone who spends a long amount of time with you absorbs that spiritual energy. For people like Sado-san or Orihime-san, who have their own spiritual powers already, your reiatsu acted like a catalyst, awakening their powers when you unleashed large amounts during the battle with all of the hollows that attacked. For people like us who didn't already have strong spiritual power, we needed to wait until we had absorbed enough reiatsu from you that we would fully develop our own powers. We just recently gained our abilities before you left for Hueco Mundo. After that, Urahara started training us." Mizuiro smiled smugly as he finished explaining.

Ichigo scratched his head. "How did you figure all that out."

Tatsuki scoffed. "That's the speech Urahara gave us during our first training session."

Keigo was slowly backing away. "Well I'm glad that everyone's back and happy but I really got to get home."

Urahara nodded. And then he and everyone else froze. Urahara turned to the garganta that was forming high up in the training area. "Everyone get moving out of here. I will handle…"

Urahara was cut off when the garganta suddenly expanded; stretching into a thin black line that looked like it would reach both horizons of the massive training room. Numerous claws began to scratch and pull at the portal to get it open quicker. There were screams and shouts coming from the slowly moving portal. "Good lord…"

Rukia didn't care who had said it, she agreed with the statement. She reached into her shihakusho and pulled out her emergency phone. With just a few button presses it was sending out a signal. "This is Rukia Kuchiki of squad 13 requesting immediate reinforcement in Karakura town. This is an emergency!"

Ichigo almost threw Orihime over Tatsuki's shoulder while yelling at them to leave. Urahara was ordering a defiant Renji, Uryu, and Chad to leave. A few moments of static, shouts and hollow screams later her phone finally responded. "Rukia Kuchiki, you and Renji Abarai have been AWOL for several days now, and as you know all Shinigami with the exception of Zennosuke Kurumadani have been recalled from that area until winter. Your request is den…What the hell is that?!"

Rukia reasoned that they must have finally picked up on the Arrancar's reiatsu. "Our previous estimations for Aizen's time table were false. The attack has begun. We require the assistance of any lieutenant or higher ranked Shinigami., or any others trusted with similar levels of skill." The garganta was finally open enough for arrancar to start spilling through. "NOW WE NEED IT NOW!"

From somewhere within the mass of arrancar flying at them a large cero was released. Urahara drew Benihime and negated the blast. The Arrancar were drawing close, but thankfully Tatsuki and the other students were safely upstairs. Urahara glanced at those who had stayed. "Everyone please stay behind me. You're all too tired for anything this huge."

Ishida smirked. "I don't have a problem staying back and attacking from afar, it's Ichigo and the others that will rush forward without thought."

Rukia stabbed her zanpakuto into the dirt and held her hands forward. "I actually prefer long range combat from time to time."

They all prepared their long range attacks, and unleashed them as the Arrancar came into range. The combination of Getsuga Tensho, La Muerte, Baboon Bone Cannon, Benihime's sing, and several kidou and quincy arrows quickly tore through the weaker arrancar. Those that were strong, fast, or smart enough to survive or dodge continued their charge with total fervor. The best of their opponents reached them, and the number of attacks created an explosion which clouded the area in dust. Several figures flew out of the cloud in different directions, several of these clouds being pursued by other clouds.

The clouds took shape, and became identifiable. Ichigo was being pursued by two released arrancar, Chad by three, and Ishida by four. Renji and Rukia had stuck together , Rukia standing atop Zabimaru's skull and firing Kidou at their pursuers. Urahara was the only one who hadn't moved, standing still and slaying the few arrancar that had similarly stayed in the cloud. After they were dead and fading away he began scanning the attacking force, searching for he espada that had launched the cero earlier. It had definitely come from the same one he had fought twice before, Yammy.

Urahara couldn't find him, he couldn't lock onto anyone's reiatsu. It was all shifting and entwining with the other sources to quickly to discern any single being. His eyes were having an easier time tracking targets. He could plainly see that more of the enemy arrancar were targeting Ishida and Chad, likely due to their weaker reiatsu. This was actually a good thing, as though the two of hem didn't put out as much conscious reiatsu as Ichigo or other Shinigami, their abilities were still just as potent. Besides, since they were not being actively targeted or defended against Ichigo, Rukia, and Renji were able to wreak havoc on the distracted and unorganized enemy.

Still, he desperately needed to find that Espada and kill it, none of the others had enough Reiatsu remaining to take on an opponent like that.

* * *

Chad sent his left hand flying through the body of another arrancar, reminding him of how thankful he was the Hollows bled significantly less then humans. He was however getting worried. His arms were beginning to ache in a very odd way. Almost as if they were hungry. He ignored it as he smashed another arrancar into the dirt and deflected a strange energy attack with his right arm. The strange resonating noise told Chad that there was another enemy behind him now, so he spun to defend himself from the impending attack.

His shield held solid against the enemy, but Chad was filled with fear none the less. He was looking at the tenth espada with his wide face stretched by a wide grin. "Time to die. Piece of TRASH!"

Yammi's other fist was about to pound down into Chad's head, but it was diverted at the last second by kick from a sandal clad foot. Kisuke then wasted no time in impaling Yammi through the chest with the blade down. "Sing, Benihime." The bottom half of Yammy's body dissolved away in a bright red explosion. As the upper half of the arrancar's body landed Kisuke picked it up and stared at it's eyes. "Where is your leader, The Espada?"

The arrancar was beginning to fade away but it smiled and said. "I die for my master." It faded away as it was completely purified.

Urahara sliced through another approaching enemy while Chad similarly continued fighting.

* * *

Rukia and Renji had taken a position nearby the ladder that led out of the training room and were defending it from Arrancar attack. This was keeping them confined until a large blast from one of the enemies blew a hole in the ceiling. The Arrancar began pouring towards it, making it clear that their only real objective was recapturing Orihime. Ichigo flew towards the opening launching a Getsuga Tensho up to destroy a few of them. There were three more Arrancar that had turned to face him as he approached. They readied to attack him.

Ichigo didn't need to attack them. Three blue arrows flew past him and stabbed through each Arrancar's face. Ishida flew up by Ichigo. "I'll handle any that have gotten out, you just stop more." Ishida then flew past Ichigo and made it outside. He found landmarks which gave him his location. He turned and pointed his bow towards the shop where the arrancar were flying. A few shots later they were gone. He scanned the horizon for any that might have left in other directions. He didn't see any.

"Gotcha!" Yammy appeared behind Ishida and attacked with a Bara. Ishida barely dodged and brought his bow up. Yammy reached a hand out and grabbed Ishida's, crushing it slightly but more importantly Yammy had completely negated Ishida's bow. "Heh heh heh. I thought you were the weakest in close range combat. I'll need to thank Ulquiorra for teaching me to look at the enemy."

Ishida winced and grabbed his arm with his free hand. "This attack of yours won't succeed. We've already got reinforcements coming from Soul Society. And don't think about using me as a hostage, I'm not on good terms with most of the Shinigami."

Yammy smiled. "Why would I need a hostage? You idiots think you can keep her from us? What Aizen-sama wants, Aizen-sama gets." Yammy snapped his fingers and a new garganta opened, out of which a yellow beam shot down and surrounded the Urahara shop. I just needed to know where she was. Now the Shinigami can't do anything about us taking her back. And you? You're just a bonus." Yammy reached for his sword.

Ishida reached for his own sword as well. He drew a Seele Schneider in his left hand and brought it up to block Yammy's sword. Though the special arrow was able to block Yammy's blade, Ishida himself was not physically strong enough to hold his opponent off. Ishida felt the pain in his shoulder and then the searing and unimaginable agony radiating from his side. He thought about screaming but then he couldn't. There was a pressure in his chest. Yammi dropped him and he started to fall. Ishida couldn't gather any energy to fly. He could only just barely see. And he knew he couldn't breathe.

There was a flash of darkness followed by light. Ishida was standing again, on the ground nearby the hole that led down into Urahara's basement. He could see off in the distance that the Urahara shop was floating upward, being drawn in by the negacion. He took a step forward and her a strange clinking noise. He looked down at his chest and saw what he had dreaded. His chain of fate was visible, and cut off some four feet from his chest. He also saw his own body lying on the floor in front of him, dead.

Ishida was frozen. He thought about jumping back into his body as though it were a gigai, but he knew that wouldn't work. He thought about a lot of things, and all of them were ridiculous. The only person who could save him was Orihime, and she was being taken back to Hueco Mundo along with the other students and likely some of Urahara's other subordinates. Even as just a normal ghost he could sense something behind him. Yammy had landed.

Yammy was grinning wide and licking his lips. Yammy began to approach, purposefully slow. Ishida knew running was pointless, he didn't have any of his powers in this form.

"URYU!!! GETSUGA TENSHO!!" The black and red energy wave hammered into Yammy causing him to stumble and face Ichigo. Ichigo cursed himself, he hadn't used enough energy to make it lethal, but he was so tired he didn't think he had enough left. Though it would only last a second he had to use the mask. Ichigo took off toward the Tenth Espada. As he approached he brought his mask out and placed it over his face. Before he could reach though Yammy snapped his fingers and a negacion surrounded him. Ichigo sliced at it but couldn't do anything.

Yammy watched them. "Close, Shinigami. But see that over there?! You fail!!!! And don't try to save her again, or none of you will leave Hueco Mundo!! That's a message from Aizen-sama."

Ichigo glared at the Espada as he floated away. He heard more incoming and turned to face them. "Ishida are you…" He saw the two Ishida's, and the chain. His eyes were torn away by the Arrancar coming at him. All three were released and one was using long range attacks. Ishida was in close proximity to one of the attacks and went flying away in pain. The attack reacted with his chain and caused it to erode slightly. Ichigo grabbed Ishida and leapt away from another attack. "So I guess you lost all your powers when you…"

Ishida nodded. "Yeah when I died now let me go I'll be fine." He knew that was a complete lie but didn't care, telling off Kurosaki came naturally to him.

Ichigo readied his sword against the enemy. Then he spun and faced Ishida. "Yeah but not as long as you're here. Sorry Uryu." Ichigo lifted his sword above hi head and the bottom of the hilt began to glow.

Uryu knew what he was doing and he started to back away. "Don't even think about it!! I'd rather be eaten by hollows!!"

Ichigo shook his head. "Not negotiating." He slammed the hilt of the sword into Ishida's head. There was a bright glow for a second and then Ishida was gone.

* * *

A/N: Wow, one chapter in and I killed my favorite male character! How merciless of me. But hey this Bleach, dead and out are two very different occurrences. Anyway if you didn't already you should read the stuff up at the top, there is some information you may be interested in. If you don't feel like it, then I'll give you the most important bit, the next chapter will take some time to get up, due to a long list of (sadly) more important things to do. Yeah, but drop me some reviews and we'll call it motivation. GREAT TO BE BACK YA'LL!! 


	2. Surroundings

A/N: This is a very important note, If you don't read it you'll likely be confused. Those of you who use filters will likely have noticed that this story is flagged as an Ishida fic. That is a little misleading, there won't really be any "central" characters in this fic. I plan on focusing on the whole group of characters. Different chapters will focus on different people of course, for instance chapter 2 here starts off as Ishida centric but changes half way through to Orihime centric. As such, I'll probably get rid of the character filter after posting this. So heads up there.

Reviews: Only four, damn, I need to build up the momentum.

Grey: You are correct sir, and I had thought of that and realized later I used poor wording. I shouldn't have said he didn't have any Quincy powers, just none that could really save his life. Quincy need their cross or the hilt for the Seele Schneider in order to summon up any weapons, and since those physical items weren't part of his ghost form, he couldn't use them. So without them, all he could do was run away, but the Quincy high speed technique uses latent spiritual particles, which are rather sparse in the real world, thus slowing him down, and he wouldn't have been fast enough to get away from Yammy's sonido. So there you go and thanks for reading.

Taco: Do it, it's so much fun. I'm sure there are other Ishida Shinigami fics out there, but I've never read them and I hope to make his Shinigami mode unique to my fic.

Marada: Good to hear, but the obvious one is true. Anyway there are plenty more updates to go so keep reading.

Hwon: Ok, Arrancar stuff starts right after Soul society in manga, and if you're completely up to date in anime then you've seen most of the arrancar arc. All you really need to do is read the Hueco Mundo arc, which goes from about 234 on which is about 60 chapters. If you don't feel like reading all of that (though I recommend the reading cuz it is some crazy stuff) anyway I summarize the events of the Hueco Mundo arc thus far with my own vague ending during this chapter. So spoilers if you aren't that far in yet. Oh and pairings? You'll get a big in your face hint toward the end.

* * *

Chapter 2: Surroundings

Ishida opened his eyes after being hit on the head. He looked left, then right. There was no mistaking the rukongai. What Ishida found interesting was that he was in the very same spot that they had landed in the first time he had come to soul society. He reasoned that there must be some connection between this spot and the area around Urahara's shop in the real world.

Ishida examined himself. He was intact, and dressed in the same style clothing hat everyone in the rukongai was privilege to. There were a number of people who had been walking around that were now gathering around the newcomer, many of whom recognized him from his previous visit. "Hey isn't that one of the Ryoka?" "But from the ways he's dressed he must have…" "No way! Those guys were able to fight all of the Shinigami off, there's no way they could die…"

Ishida sighed at all the comments being made. Finally someone he recognized approached. "Ishida? Uryu Ishida? Is that you? What are you doing back here?" The giant easily strode up to Ishida, the crowd clearing a path rather than standing in his way.

Ishida looked up at the giant and examined the crowds. There was really no point in denial. "I died." He ignored the murmur going through the crowds.

Jidanbo frowned and grabbed his face. "I'm sorry to hear that. Your opponent must truly have been fierce. What about the others?"

Ishida shook himself out of his self pity. "Can you open the gate for me? I need to get into the Seireitei and make sure help is going out. If they ignored our pleas then the others will be dying as well, though they may not have the fortune of being sent here."

Jidanbo nodded. he turned around and the people cleared the way to the gate for him. The massive man began approaching the gate whilst cracking several joints throughout his body. A good twenty feet from the gate he stopped. "The gate…" Ishida looked around his enormous companion and saw that the gate was slowly sliding upward. "They must want to find you, They must have already sent your friends some help."

Ishida couldn't feel relieved, something just made him uneasy. As the gate continued to open he could see the legs of many Shinigami beneath it, but this vision only brought a chill to his spine. He equated the feeling to little more then his hatred for Shinigami, but at the same time it felt much more acute then just that. When the gate finally opened enough to see faces he understood his dread.

"Hello there, Quincy." Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the man that was Ishida's definition of evil, was staring at him, flanked by five of his subordinates with one exceptionally large man holding up the gate. "At last, I get my test subject, and you won't be any trouble this time."

Ishida glanced to the side. "Jidanbo, get everyone away from me." Jidanbo didn't need to be told twice, he was well aware of Mayuri's reputation.

Mayuri and his subordinates walked through the gate. "Noble to the very end. You and your Qunicy pride. We'll see how long that lasts after I've removed the speech centers of your brain. Rip: Ashisogi Jizou." The sword transformed into it's golden three bladed shikai

Ishida prepared himself. Without his equipment he could not form his weaponry, so he had no way to defend himself. It was the same as when Yammy was about to eat him before Ichigo arrived. There was a difference though. In the Soul Society, spirit particles are much denser. Ishida could even feel them around him. Even without his bow and arrows he still had his quincy powers, or at very least the skill that came from having mastered them.

Mayuri's subordinates charged at their captain's signal. As they approached their prey he suddenly vanished. Only Mayuri was able to track his movements, and he moved accordingly. "There's that speed of yours again Quincy. But it was different this time. Still not fast enough though."

Ishida smiled. "The way I remember it last time I was much faster then you, and was able to rob you of a good portion of your torso."

Mayuri chuckled. "Sanrei glove. It appears your transformation was on record, I came across it while researching arrancar after Aizen's betrayal. Though the information we had stated that a Quincy should lose his powers after such a transformation. This makes you a very important specimen; The fact that you had your powers at the time of death indicates there is a hole in our records. That just won't do."

Ishida moved away with the high movement skill again, but Mayuri kept up with him. When the two came to a stop Mayuri had his zanpakuto poised ready to stab Ishida in the gut. There was only a moments hesitation, during which the sadistic doctor examined Ishida's expression change into horror. He thrust the blade forward and missed. At the last second Nemu Kurotsuchi arrived and shoved Ishida to the side while simultaneously pushing Ashisogi Jizou away with her own Zanpakuto. She held out a black butterfly and said "Mayuri-sama! Orders from Captain Commander Yamamoto. He requests that Uryu Ishida be brought to him at once, unharmed."

Mayuri grabbed the butterfly violently and pushed Nemu away just as violently. Ishida could hear a voice coming from the small creature, which he had not heard on previous visits. It repeated the message Nemu had just given forth, and Ishida took as a sign that he was at least safe for now. He stood up and dusted himself off. Once the message was completed Ishida couldn't hold back a chance to insult the monster that had tortured his teacher. "You have your orders Shinigami, where is my escort?"

Mayuri practically crushed the tiny insect in his hands. He finally released it, and it flew away limply. "Nemu, take this squad and our…_guest…_To the captain's meeting chamber." He didn't look back at any of his subordinates, and he silently sealed and sheathed his Zanpakuto and walked away.

Ishida relaxed. His life was not in any immediate danger so long as that man was away. Then he turned to Nemu. "Thank you. This is three times I owe you my life."

Nemu flinched. "I merely follow my orders, Quincy-san."

* * *

Nemu quickly led him through the streets of the Seireitei to the central area surrounding the sokyoku hill. He was led through many stairways and balconies and finally arrived at a the destination. Nemu opened the door and bowed. Ishida offered no such respect. Ignoring the insult, Yamamoto signaled him forward, and Ishida approached. "Uryu Ishida. I have many questions for you, just as I am sure that you have many for me. For ease of this conversation, I shall inform you that reinforcements were sent to Karakura town as soon as we learned that such a massive Arrancar force was on the move. We do not have much information on how the battle is fairing. Are you satisfied?"

Ishida nodded, then realizing that he did owe this man something for at least responding to their distress he decided that actually speaking was permitted. "Yes, thank you." He topped the statement off with a small bow, which was more then any but a few Shinigami deserved in his mind.

Good then. First and foremost, we of the soul society were under the impression that during the events of your battle with Captain Kurotsuchi your powers were lost forever. How did you aid in the unauthorized rescue of Orihime Inoue?"

"I was able to regain my powers, thanks to some information my grandfather left behind for me." There was no point in implicating his father; if they didn't know about the method or his father's involvement then this excuse would suffice. "It detailed a special training method that was to be hidden from all but the most loyal of Quincy. Part of the instructions were to burn the document after memorizing it, so that it could only be passed on orally to me children. However since that will no longer happen I don't see any need to reveal the information at all."

Yamamoto ignored the insolence that he was presented with. "Can you explain to me the details of what happened in Hueco Mundo?"

Ishida thought about it. "We were able to kill three Privarion Espada, then we began being attacked by the espada. Rukia Kuchki managed to defeat the noven…The Ninth Espada Aaroniero Arleri." He hesitated at the use of the Spanish terms that the Shinigami might not know. "After that Ichigo Kurosaki was attacked by The Sixth Espada Grimmjow Jaeguerjaques, while Renji Abarai was met by The Eighth Espada Szayel Aporro Grantz. I came to Renji's aid and together we were able to defeat the Espada. At the same time, Ichigo managed to defeat Grimmjow, and with help from a benevolent arrancar named Nell the Fifth Espada Nnoitra as well. At that time Ichigo had Orihime in hand and we quickly reunited. Orihime used a great deal of her healing powers to save Chad and Rukia, then Nell opened a portal for us and practically shoved us through. As soon as we arrived back in the real world the arrancar army followed us and began the attack. As far as I could tell, before I died, They were able to recapture her."

Yamamoto grimaced. "I see. Such was the folly of your task. You should have followed our orders from the beginning, rather then wasting so many lives in this futile attempt. You of all people must see what I am saying."

Ishida considered it. "No. As long as what we tried had even a single percent of a success chance, it was worth it. Abandoning a friend, much less a woman with not even the slightest hint of darkness in her whole soul, is absolutely unacceptable."

Yamamoto exhaled slowly and closed his eyes. "When I was younger I thought like you as well. But you will learn someday that some sacrifices, even the hard ones, are necessary."

Before either of them could go on a messenger burst into the room. "Commander Yamamoto! Urgent news from the front! The Arrancar have retreated!"

Ishida spun. "What about Ichigo, Sado, or Orihime?!"

* * *

Her eyes opened slowly. She was exhausted. She was looking into the sky with the moon shining back down on her. Orihime quickly figured out that she wasn't outside, but that she was looking at the moon through a barred window. She started to cry silently when she thought about what that implied.

Suddenly there was a very familiar face in front of hers. "Orihime!" Orihime was being hugged tightly by her best friend, Tatsuki. "I'm so glad you're finally awake Orihime."

Orihime pushed Tatsuki away and looked around. She wasn't in a cell at Las Noches. It was actually a small apartment with only one window in sight, which had vertical bars blocking it off. Surrounding her, in various other positions on the floor were some of her other classmates. They were all asleep, though her and Tatsuki's movements seemed to be waking them up. Keigo was the first to bring his head up. "Oh…Hey Orihime-chan…YAAAAAWWWWNNNN…How are you feeling?"

Mizuiro also sat up, rubbing his eyes to wake up. "Welcome to my home Inoue-san, I hope it's not too small for you."

She smiled and finally found her voice. "This is fine really, just, why is the window all barred up?"

Mizuiro glanced at the window. "Oh yeah, the previous owner did that, I don't know why though."

"Oh…" A million possible explanations ran through her mind but she suppressed them, she didn't want her overactive imagination to distract her from what was important. "What happened, how did we get here?"

Tatsuki sat down in front of her. "Ichigo brought you back out, and then a whole bunch of arrancar followed you, so we ran upstairs. We ran into Yoruichi and the people who work at the shop. We all agreed that it wasn't safe there so Mizuiro brought us here. Yoruichi hasn't come back yet so we're lying low and not putting out any spiritual pressure."

She looked at each of them. "What were you all doing at Urahara-san's?"

Tatsuki smiled. "Urahara was helping us to control our spiritual powers. That's right, all three of us. Keigo can move stuff with this stick, Mizuiro can teleport stuff and I can make this armor on my hands and feet that makes me way stronger and faster."

Orihime smiled. "That's amazing Tatsuki-chan!"

Keigo crawled up. "What about me?! I'm amazing too!!! Here I'll show you!!"

Tatsuki quickly punched him in the hid and sent him back down to the ground. "What part of lay low and don't draw attention did you not understand?!"

"Actually that won't be necessary anymore. The enemy is gone." A black cat was sitting outside the window and looking in. It spoke in a deceptively masculine voice. "It happened a few hours ago but we needed to make sure that there were none in hiding trying to find you. How are you feeling Orihime?"

Orihime looked her self over, checking for any wounds, but she didn't find anything. Then her stomach growled very loud. "Eheheheh I'm a little hungry I guess." She paused to laugh a little more and scratch the back of her head. When she was done with that she had something to ask. "Yoruichi-san, where's Kurosaki-kun?"

Yoruichi smiled. "He's fine. As is Chad, Renji and Rukia."

The silence that followed this statement was finally broken when Orihime caught something that was missing. "What about Ishida-kun?"

Yoruichi shook her head. "He didn't make it." The four of them were shocked, to say the least, but Orihime was the one who was most hurt by the news. "Luckily Ichigo was able to perform a konso before a hollow could devour his spirit form. So he is in the Soul Society at this moment."

Orihime looked up. "That means we can go talk to him right?!"

Yoruichi closed her eyes to concentrate. "Perhaps. There are certain rules for people like Ishida, specifically the quincy. All previous quincy that died were ruled by central 46 to be a threat to soul society and were arrested for research. Considering Ishida's reputation, as well as central 46 being destroyed, Ishida may receive a reprieve, but I cannot say. Even besides that there are further laws that prohibit a deceased person from making contact with the people they knew in life. Those rules are held very strictly." Orihime and the others were thinking of anything they could do or say in this situation, but they all drew blanks. "Come everyone, let's go back to the battlefield where everyone is gathered. There are a number of people waiting for you. Mizuiro, can you get us back?"

Mizuiro stood up and dusted himself off. "I'll see what I can do, but just getting us here was tough." He put his right hand forward and brought the other hand to his nose right between his eyes and pinched. He extended his index finger out and pointed straight ahead. A silver fluid seemed to come out from under his sleeve and wrap around his hand in three trails. The three trails spiraled around his hand and then his outstretched finger. When they joined at the tip he drew a circle in the air and the liquid leapt off his finger to make the circle complete in the air. With a flash of white light the circle of liquid became a 5 foot wide hole that showed the training area under Urahara's shop. "Okay hop on through. Inoue-san make sure to go through with your whole body or you could leave something behind in this room."

Orihime grimaced at the idea of jumping through and landing without arms but simultaneously wondered if she could get something more useful like robot arms to replace them. She shook her head to quiet her imagination again and, following Tatsuki, leapt through the portal. The only real sensation was the change in the air temperature, from a warm cramped apartment to the wide open and breached space. She could also finally see just how many people were here. She recognized many of them immediately. Kenpachi Zaraki along with his lieutenant and seated officers. Toshiro and Rangiku. Jushiro, Byakuya, Shunsui. And then there were so many Shinigami she had never seen before. And many of them were looking right at the group of them.

Rangiku ran over and hugged Orihime. "I'm so glad you're safe. I would've joined Renji and Rukia but they didn't tell me they were going."

Orihime pushed the large woman away from her and smiled. "Thank you, Rangiku-san."

Rangiku reached out and hugged tightly again. "No it's unacceptable I should have been there to help!! Hm?" It suddenly became apparent to Rangiku that she was not hugging someone of Orihime's stature.

Keigo smiled and nuzzled. "Ahhhh…I know what is coming next but it is so worth it. UNGNNNNNN!!." Keigo fell to the ground grabbing his groin, while Rangiku looked around for Orihime.

Tatsuki was wandering around the area with Orihime. They didn't have to wander very far before they saw Ichigo and the others. Orihime felt flustered and faint. Tatsuki grabbed her shoulder. "I thought so, I've thought so for a while you know. I gotta ask why though. Why him of all people?"

Orihime put her hands to her chest. "He saved me. He would do anything to save anyone. If anything ever happened he would run to their rescue with his sword and his Bankai and sometimes he can put on this mask and his voice gets all deep and he would still be saying '**I **_W_**i**_l_**l **_S_**a**_v_**e**_ Y__**o**__u_'." She imitated Ichigo when describing his hollow transformation to the point of placing her hands on her face like a mask and deepening her voice.

Tatsuki was still smiling at her. "Well come on, lets go say hi."

* * *

A/N: Can someone say pairing? 


	3. Worries

A/N: Wow that was a long wait. Well I did warn ya'll.

Reviews:

Hwon: If you ask me I don't think Ichigo's all that stubborn, he just like to appear that way. Another thing, he likes being the hero, and who needs more rescuing then Orihime?

Holy: All wrong, but funny ideas.

* * *

Chapter 3: Worries

"They are all alive and accounted for. It also seems that we didn't lose any of the Shinigami that were sent. Aizen's forces on the other hand suffered massive losses as a result of their disorganized assault. We are now positive that all the arrancar have moved back into Hueco Mundo. In order to make our position clear our forces have set up a perimeter in the facility owned by Kisuke Urahara. There have been no enemy sightings for some time now, and the captains have requested permission to withdraw."

Ishida relaxed as the report was given. Yamamoto thanked and dismissed the messenger, approving the withdrawal. Ishida turned back to the captain-commander. "Just who did you send?"

"Captains Zaraki, Kyoraku, Ukitake, Hitsugaya, Kuchiki, several of their most trusted subordinates, and a full squad of front line medics from squad four led by lieutenant Kotetsu." Ishida was actually awestruck for a moment when he heard the list. Yamamoto took this as a sign that he had gained at least some trust from the arrogant young man, and decided to push the limits of what could be conversed. "Now then, I have a request for you." This got Ishida's attention turned back onto the negative, but Yamamoto persisted. "I want your opinion." There was a change in the Quincy's disposition at that. "If today's events are any indication, Orihime Inoue is of great importance to the enemy in Hueco Mundo. For that reason I wanted to ask you, one of her allies, if you believe she would be safer here, in the protective custody of soul society, or left in the material world with the rest of your allies?"

Ishida considered for only a moment. "Do you think you are as strong as Kurosaki?" Yamamoto just grunted in response. "If you think you are stronger then him, that if the combined strength of Soul society would be a better deterrent that he is alone, then bring her here, and let all of Aizen's wrath fall upon your precious Seireitei. Then again, you were the one who had ordered us to leave her behind in that hell, all to protect a few lives. Consider how far we made it, one captain level Shinigami, two seated officers, a human and a quincy. Then imagine how much farther, how much more damage we could have done against that palace had we had even the aid of just three captains. But you would have left her to rot. I wouldn't trust you not to slit her throat just to keep her away from Aizen. That is my opinion. If you have no further need for me, I have my afterlife to tend to, and I plan on spending it in rukongai, far away from you Shinigami." Ishida stood and turned, approaching the door.

Yamamoto only responded by saying "Very well then."

No one stopped him as he walked. He thought they might be avoiding him. He reached the gate and after knocking on it and yelling for a while Jidanbo opened it up so he could leave the Seireitei.

* * *

Orihime approached the group, and a hush filled the air. Tatsuki bumped into her earning a startled exclamation followed by a short laugh. Once all the tension was out of her system, she took a deep breath and exhaled. "Ummmmmmm…"She bowed down. "Thank you all so much!! Thank you, for saving me."

No one said anything for a moment. Then Ichigo broke the silence. "I don't leave my friends in the hands of the enemy. So you don't need to thank me."

Renji scoffed. "Well aren't you the noble tough guy." The two began to trade glares that crackled with electricity.

Rukia ignored the staring contest and stepped forward. "It was tough I won't lie, but I should be thanking you, you saved my life."

Orihime smiled at the Shinigami but she noticed some movement. "Sado-kun?"

Chad stopped but he didn't turn around. "I'm okay, now that everyone's ok. But I need to go talk to Urahara-san. See ya."

Rukia examined the situation. She ran over to Renji and not so discreetly punched him the gut. Before he could scream about her actions she began yelling over him. "RENJI IT LOOKS LIKE YOUR WOUND HAS OPENED AGAIN LETS GO FIND THOSE 4TH SQUAD MEDICS AND GET YOU PATCHED UP!!!" As she pushed Renji away she turned back and gave a very obvious thumbs up and wink to Orihime.

Orihime had no idea what she was getting at so she turned around but to ask Tatsuki but she was interrupted by Ichigo.

Ichigo looked around. "Wow, everyone sure left in a hurry. Oh Inoue, Tatsuki. Do you need to do anything?"

She looked up at the sky to distract herself. The sky within this area was always blue, but the large hole that had been opened in the roof allowed her to see the night sky just as she had seen it through Mizuiro's window. She snapped herself back and answered Icihigo's question. "Oh no, I don't have anything I need to I just want to get some food and then some sleep."

Tatsuki stretched her arms. "I'm fine too, I just need to get home for school tomorrow."

Ichigo scratched his head and stood up. "Alright." He looked around until he saw someone. "Hey Toshiro do you need us here anymore?"

The diminutive Shinigami captain turned and glanced at Ichigo angrily. "How many times? It's Captain Hitsugaya. As for your question, we just received word that Orihime will not be brought back to Soul Society as we had initially believed. Instead, she is being labeled "A Citizen of the Material world placed under the jurisdiction and therefore protection of Substitute Shinigami Ichigo Kurosaki.""

Ichigo scratched his head. "So, you guys aren't going to help us protect her?"

Hitsugaya shook his head. "Sorry, apparently this decision was based partly on the words of Uryu Ishida."

Ichigo was getting angry. "WHAT!!! That jerk went through all the trouble of helping to save her and now he doesn't think she should be protected?"

Hitsugaya let out a drawl of breath. "He wants you to protect her. He doesn't trust us Shinigami to do a decent job of it."

Ichigo was knocked back by that comment. It did sound like something Ishida would say. "Alright whatever. Are you two going to be okay going home?"

Tatsuki smiled. "I'll be fine, I can take care of myself now." Tatsuki turned and started towards the exit.

Inoue thought for a moment. "I can get home on my own I guess. Though…What if they come for me again?"

Ichigo scratched his head. "You really think they would after all of this? Then again if they were really going to do all of this I guess they'd be willing to attack again wouldn't they. Argghhh. I guess you're sticking with me. Damn that Ishida, he could have at least asked for a few guards to help out here. So you want to go home right?"

Orihime was lost in her thoughts. She finally snapped out and heard what Ichigo had asked. "Ummmm, I think that one that took me there, Ulquiorra, I think he knows where I live. I wouldn't feel very safe there."

Ichigo scratched his head some more. "And I need to get my body back from home, soooo…"

"I guess I could stay at Kurosaki-kun's home for now, I know I'd be safe there."

* * *

"So, you managed to capture a live one, Urahara-san."

Urahara sighed. "Yes, consider it a gift, Mayuri may be able to find some way to use it's anatomy for new devices, or maybe find some shared weakness in their bodies or reiatsu."

Ukitake nodded. "Though, We might find out even more if you were the one doing the dissection."

The green clad exile stood and shook his head. "Sorry, dissections were never my favorite thing to do; that was always Mayuri's specialty. It was the one area he excelled even further then myself in, mostly because unlike me he enjoyed the process."

"But no one understands the process that transforms a hollow into an arrancar as well as you do."

"I refuse to do it, Ukitake-san."

Ukitake nodded, then turned. "Ah, Sado-san."

Chad simply nodded and made a very quiet grunt like noise. "Excuse me, I need to speak with Urahara-san."

Ukitake nodded, and picked up the unconscious arrancar before leaving.

Urahara didn't turn to face Chad, but he did acknowledge his presence. "Hello Sado-san. You are here to ask about your arms and their transformations, aren't you?"

* * *

Ichigo looked around his room. "Where the hell am I? Yoruichi said she put it in my room for safe keeping." He looked over at the closet. "No way to obvious." He opened the closet and his body flopped out and a rag doll like fashion, landing chin first and with it's arms twisted around. Ichigo wasn't happy about it. "How can be people treat you like this! I have to live in here you know!" Ichigo heard a sound behind him and was afraid that he might have woken up his family. He was relieved when he saw it was just Orihime. Then he was a bit embarrassed to realize it was Orihime.

She smiled sweetly. "Umm is anything wrong, Kurosaki-kun?"

He started propping his body up into a more decent position while trying to brush away any concerns. As soon as his body was in a position that wouldn't cause too much pain he merged with it and yawned. "Wow, being back in my body really makes me tired. Oh, well normally guests stay in my sister's room…"

"I thought Rukia slept in your closet while she stayed over here?" Orihime hoped her blush wasn't very apparent.

Ichigo stood up and looked around the room to distract himself. "Well yeah, but that was only when I didn't want my family to know she was staying here. And besides that was her idea not mine."

Orihime looked at the closet. It was small and would be cramped. "Well uhhh, do you want to wake up your family?"

Ichigo thought about it. "Well no, but…" Orihime was much taller then Rukia and would not be very comfortable in his closet. Besides that was just rude, and had Rukia not volunteered for such a home he would never have forced it on her. Still he had to think of something. "Alright how about you sleep in my bed?"

Orihime blinked. "Ummmm um um um… I'm…I'm not that kind of girl…Kurosaki-kun…"

Ichigo shook his hands and arms wildly side to side. "No I didn't mean it like that!! I'm going to sleep on the floor!!!"

Orihime blinked again. "oh…Oh yes of course Sorry about that Kurosaki-kun My mistake eheheheh!" They both calmed down and Ichigo pulled out his spare futon. He laid down on it while Orihime snuggled into Ichigo's bed. "Good Night Kurosaki-kun."

"Night."

* * *

Chad looked at his arm. He had gone straight home after his talk with Urahara. Nothing was said that he hadn't expected, but it still upset him. _'Your arms are acting in a manner similar to a hollow. Over your life time you have been exposed to small amounts of reiatsu that your body has fed on, eventually it reached a level of physical manifestation in your right arm. When you trained with Renji you weren't just working out, you were absorbing reiatsu off of his Bankai, so your powers advanced. Then you went to Hueco Mundo, the dense spirit particles in that world served to excite your powers even further, and so they advanced further. As you continue to fight, or are surrounded by large sources of spirit particles or reiatsu, you will get stronger and stronger. But I must warn you, eventually you may become addicted and develop the hunger of a hollow. Should you ever desire to devour a spirit for it's spiritual reiatsu, I suggest you take this.'_

Chad reached into his pocket and pulled out the small pill. It was ovoid and half black half white. "If I take this, my powers will go away, but I won't hurt anyone. As long as I can control it, I can use this arm to protect people. So I'll keep it for now."

* * *

He appeared from a black gateway and walked along the ground silently and slowly. He looked up into the window of the house. "I see. Protecting her." Then he was aware of some other presence.

"Is there maybe something I can help you with, Arrancar?"

He glanced around with his emerald eyes to see the man who and addressed him. A shihakusho, and a white banner off of the left shoulder. "No. Ishhin Kurosaki."

Ishhin was taken back for a second. "So, you know who I am. Well I imagine you are here to play with Ichigo, but he's very tired from his recent ordeal and can't come out right now. I can entertain you …I'm sorry I didn't catch your name."

"Arrancar Cuatro, Ulquiorra Schiffer." Ulquiorra glanced towards the sky at that moment, as he was not the one who had spoken his name. "And he would kill you in an instant old man. But he'd have a little more trouble against someone like me."

Ulquiorra's eyes were fixed on this new comer. He had no knowledge of this person. A man with blonde hair an a skinny appearance. A human with reiatsu that matched or even surpassed his own, but more strange then anything was that this reiatsu was almost the same as his. "I see. You are the same as that boy."

Shinji smiled and brought his sword over his shoulder. "What you mean Ichigo? That feather of fighter. He wouldn't last a minute against me if I was really trying. But still, he has room to grow and because of that he's a valuable asset. Sorry, but you can't kill him."

Ulquiorra blinked. "The thought never crossed my mind. I came here for the girl." Ishhin and Shinji both showed signs of confusion. "I see, so you weren't even aware of her presence. Still taking her while fending both of you off would be difficult, and she might not survive." He opened a garganta. "Aizen Sama will be displeased, but he will understand."

Shinji and Ishhin watched the arrancar disappear. After he was gone Ishhin sighed out of relief. "Fighting him would have been tough. I'm glad he decided to leave. But what did he mean by girl?"

Ishhin suddenly heard gasp. "I'll tell you what he meant. Orihime-chan how could you!"

Ishhin jumped up and looked through the window to see Orihime sleeping soundly in Ichigo's bed. "OH! My son is growing up faster then I thought!" He then realized who he was standing right next to. The leapt away from each other and locked eyes. "So, you felt the need to protect Ichigo as an investment of yours, Vizard?"

Shinji smiled. "So, you know what we are. Just as I know what you are. And yeah, Ichigo happens to be a very important part of our future. So take good care of him. We can't always interfere when that idiot gets himself into trouble." With that Shinji was gone.

Ishhin landed back on the ground. "Damn that guy is fast. And Ichigo…And Orihime…I'll need to do some parenting in the morning…"

* * *

Inside the house Orihime awoke with a gasp, having just sensed something. Whatever it was it was gone now, but there was still something lingering in the air that terrified her. Then she became aware of the other person breathing in the room, and remembered Ichigo. A thin beam of light hit her in the back of the head, telling her that the sun was rising. She got out of the bed and knelt down beside Ichigo. He was breathing very quietly, but he was breathing. "Just like before." She started to lean in but stopped when she heard a yawn.

Ichigo opened his eyes and saw Orihime right in front of him. "Uhhhhh…Inoue?"

What would have been a long and awkward silence was cut short when Ichigo's father came bursting into the room screaming at the top of his lungs. "TODAY'S THE DAY GIRLS!!! TODAY ICHIGO IS HOME!!!!!! GAHHHH!!!" Ishhin had just caught sight of Orihime bending over Ichigo, and was stopped in his tracks. Yuzu, who had been closely following her father, was similarly frozen.

Karin also walked in. "That's what you said yesterday dad…Oh, Well I guess you were right today." She then smiled and turned around to leave. "Nice job Ichigo, you bagged a real hottie."

* * *

A/N: Lets see Ichigo bluff himself out of this one. 


	4. Interaction

A/N: I'm not gonna lie. I just didn't feel like writing. Until now. So here you go. I should be able to hold my focus in this story long enough to get it all written so There shouldn't be another massive break like that. This chap: Nothing but Ichigo and Orihime. And no Seedy bits. Don't I just piss you off.

Reviews: Just 1. The bleach section must not have as many fans which is crazy cuz it's such a great manga/anime.

Hwon: So wait, you can relate to fighting and death, but not an encounter with a girl/boy (I'm not really sure which you are or prefer). That kinda sucks. And no. He's still quite oblivious to that. And given Ichigo's natural tendency towards obliviousness, it's gonna stay that way.

* * *

Chapter 4: Interaction

"You have failed me, Yammy. You failed to retrieve the girl, and lost a large number of Arrancar in the process. All you have to show for this failed stunt is some worthless shack."

Yammy was kneeling with his fists dug into the ground and his face down. "Please, forgive me Aizen-sama, I was sure she would be in that building. I was sure of it."

Aizen didn't even look at the Espada. "You were wrong. Tosen, kill him."

"Yes, Aizen-sama." Kaname rose his sword up and swung it down. The sound of two swords clashing informed all that he had not succeeded in a killing blow.

Gin stepped out of the building that Yammy had brought back with him, holding out an extended Shinso and with some books tucked under his arm. "Hey hey now, let's not be so hasty. After all, it wouldn't be good if we lost another Espada so soon. Besides, there's something you should see here." He withdrew his blade and threw the books down on the ground.

Tosen bent over and picked up the one that landed near to him. He looked at the title confused. "Have only good years on 'Kurono's utopia'. What is this Gin?"

Gin shook his head. "You aren't paying very close attention Tosen-san. Look at the words. H-O-G-Y-O-K-U." He smiled triumphantly while Kaname put the letters together.

"Hogyoku!" As soon as the words escaped Tosen's lips the book burst into flame and he dropped it on the ground. "A trap. Forgive me Aizen-sama, I was reckless."

Aizen approached one of the fallen books and looked it over. "Do not fret Tosen, it seems these other books contain some research as well. But it would be wise not to read any of the contents out loud, lest there be other protection mechanisms. Do not open any of them, or read any of their covers aloud. Prepare a special chamber and retrieve the Octava Fraccion, even without their Espada they are still the best for dealing with these matters. And Yammy, leave my presence."

Yammy quickly leapt to his feet and ran out of the room.

* * *

"Is it ok if I call you my newest daughter?" Orihime blinked and stared awkwardly at Isshin.

Before she could respond Ichigo punched his father in the face and sent him flying into a wall. "Will you just shut up already?!"

Ichigo and Isshin proceeded into a fist fight while Orihime gaped on hopelessly. Karin tapped her shoulder and took a seat. "Don't worry, they do this all the time. Ichigo will win in about ten seconds. So you and Ichigo huh?"

Orihime was about to stutter but once more Ichigo broke in. "We are not…!!" Isshin was able to punch Ichigo across the room with the opening the statement had made.

"You've gotten sloppy Ichigo, but then again, it is only natural for a man to be distracted by the beauty of a woman. However, As your father it is my place to know what happened last night so that I can give wise advice for how to go about this situation. DOH!!!" Ichigo elbowed his father in the face and sent him flying away.

After a few pants Ichigo lifted up his fist and started shouting, "Advice!! How about you stop having a fist fight in front of our guest!!!"

Karin yelled over the ruckus to get some attention. "HEY! Speaking of which, why is she our guest? And where were you up till last night?"

Ichigo froze, he had no idea what to say. "Us and a few of our friends were staying over at another friends house in order to work on a very hard school project and after it was all done it was pretty late so Ichigo walked me home but someone had broken into my house and I didn't feel very safe there so he let me stay here for the night." Orihime told the story expertly and believably, impressing Ichigo and allowing him to relax.

Karin nodded. "Ok, I can believe that, so why the weird outfit?"

Orihime glanced down and realized she was still in her Arrancar attire. "Ummmmm…OH yes this is my costume, for our assignment, we didn't go into my home so I couldn't get a change."

Isshin was suddenly in Orihime's face. "So, you stayed here the entire night?" She nodded timidly from his proximity. "Did my son…Do…anything to you?"

Orihime blushed but laughed. "Oh no he was very polite and didn't try to rape me or anything."

Though everyone was a bit taken back by her flippant use of that word, Karin was the one to break the silence. "I believe it, Ichigo doesn't have the gall to do something like that to a girl. Besides, the way I saw it, she was trying to take advantage of him."

Blushes immediately crept onto the faces of everyone but Karin. Ichigo shook his head. "She just fell out of the bed and landed over me, that's all. Nothing happened."

Everyone looked at Orihime for confirmation. "Yeah that's all."

After more question dodging and stressing the importance of getting to school Ichigo finally got himself and Orihime out of the house and on the way to her house. "Sorry about my family, My Dad is a total nut job."

She smiled. "I thought he was funny."

* * *

When they reached Orihime's house Ichigo became a little more cautious, wary of what could be a trap. Orihime huddled closely behind Ichigo as he opened the door. He didn't like the proximity, but he knew it would make her feel better about going back into her house. He had his talisman gripped and was prepared to leap out of his body at a moments notice. They walked in to the house and it seemed empty. Then they heard a noise. "Stay back Inoue." Ichigo leapt out of his body and kicked the door to the bedroom open. He swung Zangetsu down but stopped when he saw what was there.

"I-I-Ichigo…What are you trying to do kill me?" The tiny little plushy sighed in relief as Ichigo withdrew the blade.

Ichigo reached down and picked Kon up by the back of his head. "What the hell are **you** doing here?"

Kon flailed around pointlessly in midair. When it was apparent that he wasn't getting anywhere he calmed down. "Well I'm tired of staying with your sister, she thinks I'm a girl and makes me wear these dresses. Anyway you should be grateful; out of the kindness of my heart I cleaned this whole place." Orihime wandered in slowly. "Oh! Orihime-Chan!! You're back!!!"

Orihime waved and greeted Kon. "Wow! You did a great job of cleaning everything. Thank you Kon-san."

Kon smiled and took on an affectionate pose. "Perhaps I could be rewarded with a hug?!"

Ichigo threw Kon to the ground. "Little…You're going back in my Sister's room!!"

Kon hopped up onto his knees. "NO!! Please!! Anything but that!! You can't do this to me Ichigo It's not fair!! I'd rather go back into that box in the back of that shop!!"

Suddenly something connected in Orihime's head. "I don't mind if Kon-san stays here." Both of her companions looked at her confused. "I mean, I can't stay here, because I need protection, but I can't always be a burden on Kurosaki-kun, so the only other place for me to stay would be at Urahara-san's house. Though, it did get blown up did get blown up soooo…I just don't want Kurosaki-kun to always be worrying about me."

Ichigo stared to the side for a moment. "Kon. Keep this place clean and you can stay here." He kicked the plushie away to finalize the statement. With that done he turned back to Orihime. "Inoue, Urahara can't be counted on but I guess it's worth a shot. Either way It's just like Toshiro said, It's my job to protect you, and I won't push that on anyone else." She nodded at him. Ichigo then headed towards the door. "Go ahead and change into your school uniform, I'll be right out here."

* * *

By the time the two of them got to school they were very late. But that wasn't the problem. The problem was that they walked into the room together, earning no small amount of conversation from their classmates. Ichigo of course blew them all off flippantly but Orihime was too nice for that. Thankfully he Teacher was forceful enough to shut the class up without question.

At lunch, Ichigo went up to the roof to enjoy the frustration of having forgotten his food in the rush of leaving home. He was actually starving by this time, and to make it worse Keigo, Mizuiro, and Chad had decided to eat on the roof as well. As they walked into view of Ichigo Keigo waved and yelled "Hey big hero Ichigo!!"

Ichigo remained above their questions about Hueco Mundo and his abilities, even commenting once on how he wished they were still oblivious. Eventually the scent of food got to him. "Hey Keigo, can I borrow some food?"

Keigo took a bite. "Ew no way Ichigo, but I'll _give_ you some food if you answer one question. Why was Inoue-san with you when you came to class?"

Ichigo turned away. "Forget it I'd rather starve."

Keigo moved forward. "AWWW Come on Ichigo how can you keep such a story to yourself? Did something _personal_ happen?"

Ichigo turned away. "No."

Chad looked up from his food. "Hey, Ichigo…Didn't she leave Urahara's with you last night too?"

Ichigo froze, and for a moment wanted to kill Chad. Keigo got louder then ever. "WHAAAT!!! So Inoue goes out in the middle of the night with Ichigo, and comes back in the day with Ichigo, so they were together the whole time and they were …"

Ichigo stood up. "Nothing happened all right!!! I don't even like Inoue like that."

Keigo put his hand to his chin and thought. "Wait, so you went out all night with a girl you don't even like? More to the point you don't like her so I might have a chance with Inoue-san."

Mizuiro put down his juice and spoke in his mild voice. "Not likely Asano-san."

Keigo started crying. "Not only do you crush my dreams but must you also crush our friendship with your polite speech?"

Ignoring his demented friend Mizuiro turned to Ichigo. "You were protecting her, right? In case more of those Arrancar guys show up." Ichigo nodded. "See, you should have just said that from the beginning."

Ichigo looked at the sky and scratched the back of his head. For a single moment he forgot about his companions and said, "Though she did try to kiss me…" _'Wait did I just say that out loud?'_

"SHEEE WHATT!!!! You mean you almost made out with one of the cutest girls at this school and you're not even attracted to her? What is your problem? I mean, If Orihime's not your type who is?" Keigo was actually almost in Ichigo's face at this point.

Ichigo shoved him away. "I don't know, someone more like Rukia, or maybe Tatsuki."

Keigo sat back. "So you like girls with short black hair and flat chests, I guess Orihime isn't your type."

Ichigo was rearing to beat Keigo when Chad spoke up. "I think…" After that he had their attention, so he kept going. "…It's personality…"

Mizuiro thought about it for a second. "But Arisawa and Kuchiki have such different personalities."

Ichigo scoffed. "You never met Rukia out of her cover."

"So it's tough girls you like, I guess Orihime doesn't really fit into that. Ichigo you have no taste in women." Keigo shook his head and shrugged before handing Ichigo some food and taking a drink. Ichigo didn't respond, he knew it would just fuel Keigo's appetite for attention.

* * *

Tatsuki handed Orihime some food after taking her position in the circle under the trees. "So, anything happen last night?"

Orihime shook her head but blushed a little.

Ryo raised her face from her book for a second and said. "What are you two talking about?"

Orihime shook her head wildly. "Nothing, nothing at all!!"

Chizuru was suddenly up in Orihime's face. "Oh look at you! That blush is so cute!! I have to get a touch!!"

"Not on your life!!!" Tatsuki locked her classmate in a grab and then flung her away into a tree.

Michiru cautiously approached Orihime. "You were blushing a lot though. Did something happen last night? OH! Maybe something with Ichigo? You did come to school with him."

Orihime's head was shaking so fast it was a blur. "No nothing at all!!"

Mahana was also approaching. "Are you sure, you're not being very convincing."

"All of you better stop pestering Orihime like that or I'll be forced to treat you like Chizuru." Tatsuki cracked her knuckles. The girls scattered back to their original positions and focused back on their food. She then turned to Orihime. "Everything is ok right?"

Orihime smiled. "Yes, everything is fine. Really."

Tatsuki nodded and turned back to the group, who were all closing in slowly and clearly paying attention to them. "BACK OFF!!"

* * *

"Hey have you seen Ishida?"

It was the question they had been dreading, all of them. Of course it was a question they would have to face eventually.

In the one day since his death, his real true and final death, no one had been told about it, except for one man. His only response was that he wanted the Shinigami gone, and he only shed tears after they left.

At school the other students were completely oblivious to the truth, but for the six of them it was a difficult subject. Worse of it all, it was Orihime who was asked by one of the other members of the crafts club. At a complete loss for what to say Orihime just started to stutter and even felt herself tearing up. "Ishida he…he…"

"Uryu was in an accident. No one knows very much yet." Ichigo walked up and stood beside Orihime. "Inoue-san, lets get going."

"Right, Kurosaki-kun."

* * *

"How? How? How?"

"WOW!!! How did you fix it so fast?" Ichigo and Orihime were standing outside of the Urahara shop, absent of any sign of it's previous absence.

The namesake of the shop was standing out front, uselessly fanning himself despite the unusually cool fall weather. "Well? What do you think? It took almost all night to pull this together, and everyone else is asleep from the exhaustion. Oh c'mon Kurosaki-kun we couldn't have just left an enormous crater in the middle of town, that would be too suspicious. But come in come in. It's the grand reopening so we're having a sale on most of our stock."

"I'm amazed that you completely ignored our questions of how you managed to do this but I guess that's not important. Hey Geta-boshi! Are you listening to me?!" Urahara was walking away into the store while yawning. "I'm talking to you dammit!"

"I heard you, and think I know what this will be about. Then again, I usually do don't I, Kurosaki-san?"

Ichigo started following him into the store as Orihime followed closely behind. "Cocky bastard. Alright, if you're so much of a genius then why am I here?"

Kisuke sat and sipped from a glass. "I would imagine you wish to drop your responsibilities on me." Since he was more or less correct, neither of the teens could really protest him. "You feel that the soul society is wrong to leave Inoue-san on this side, that she would be safer over there? You're wrong. Think of how easily Aizen was taken from Soukyoku hill by the menos. They can assault Seireitei just as easily as the human world. Inoue-san isn't really safe anywhere."

The air was heavy with silence. Finally it was broken by a confident feminine voice. "But an arrangement like this is for the best. Urahara and myself can protect her here, and you can watch her at school and elsewhere." Yoruichi took a seat near Kisuke and looked up her friends. "We'll do it. But you already knew that didn't you Ichigo?"

Rather then answering her question he just nodded. Orihime on other hand bowed deeply. A few tears could be seen dropping from her face. "Thank you so much. I'm sorry I must be your burden."

Yoruichi was a little struck by the break down, and Ichigo was unsure of what to say. Kisuke was the one who knew what to do. "You are no burden here Inoue-san. You will be working for your stay. There are plenty of chores, and Jinta and Ururu will be greatful for the assistance. Furthermore, your beauty will make this shop such a nicer place to live!" The dark skinned woman rose up to her feet. Clearly disappointed. "Not that the shop isn't already…"

"Save it. Here's your room Orihime." She opened a door and within was simple room with a bed and a small desk prepared for her.

She saw it but couldn't respond. When she finally found her voice she could only thank them.

As she went into the room to get a feel for it Ichigo stood up. "I have something I need to do." There was an obvious anxiety in his voice and he left without any more words.

Orihime left her room in an attempt to follow and ask him what the problem was but she was stopped by Yoruichi. "Don't. Couldn't you sense it. Getting you here was a priority because he must do something that he clearly doesn't want you involved in."

Orihime thought about, and shoved Yoruichi out of the way. She reached the entrance to shop and called out. "I'll see you tomorrow right Kurosaki-kun?!"

He was halted. He turned and smiled. "Yeah of course." He kept on walking.

She was overjoyed that he had answered her positively. But she was also horrified of what that smile might contain. Ichigo rarely ever smiled. His scowl was part of what kept him serious. Kept him honest.

* * *

A/N: Next Chapter will be sooner, and a little weirder, less straightforward. 


	5. Paths

A/N: Told you it be quiker. And while I'm not doing this for the reviews, theyd be nice.

Reviews:

Hwon: Yeah, I mis read one word, it's amazing how that can change the entire meaning of a paragraph. my bad, but please, have mercy on the kitten.

* * *

Chapter 5: Paths

Ichigo walked a long ways. He walked until the sun had slipped down and a thin layer of stars appeared. He was far away from any of the landmarks he was used too, except for one; a single broken down warehouse.

Normally no one would be interested in such a place. But Ichigo knew all to well what was inside. And outside. "Hey there, Ichigo. Welcome back."

He smirked, knowing full well what he was here to tell this person. "You shouldn't be so happy to see someone whose about to quit your little gang, Shinji."

Shinji leapt down to stand before Ichigo. "Quit? Now? After everything you've been through I thought you might be even more inclined to join us as a full fledged member."

"Not a chance."

"Is this about Orihime-chan? Bring her with you! We'd all be overjoyed to act as her guardians."

"No."

"Then why not?"

Another smirk. "Didn't I tell you from the beginning? I was just using you to get my hollow under control. Now that that's over and I can hold the mask for extended periods of time I don't need you guys anymore."

Now it was Shinji's turn to smile. "Extended period eh? About five to ten minutes right? Enough to kill your opponents right? Wrong. The only reason you could hold it so long was because you were in Hueco Mundo, where Hollow powers are more at home. Here, your limit couldn't be more then fifteen seconds. You won't be ready until you can hold it for hours, like the rest of us."

"Then I'll train it on my own."

"Don't be so stupid Ichigo. You may have defeated the Sexta Espada, but compared to the top 3, he was nothing. You need us. Why are you so intent on pushing us away?"

"How can I be sure whose side you're really on?!"

"So you still don't trust us. You really are just like all the other Shinigami." He sighed. "Very well then Ichigo. You won't be forced."

Ichigo scoffed. "You still haven's answered my question. Whose side are you really on? How is it you know everything you do? Where did you get these powers? I'm tired of everyone leading me around with a blind fold on. I want answers."

Shinji averted his eyes. And then sighed heavily. "We're…It's complicated. You couldn't understand what we've been through. I can't say who our allies are. But I can say that Aizen isn't among them, and nor are those loyal to him. Is that good enough?"

"Not even close!!"

Shinji got annoyed. "Well too bad that's the best you get!" He exhaled to clam down a bit. "Well like I said you won't be forced. We'll just disappear for a little while, and appear again when we're needed." Shinji turned and began to walk back towards the warehouse. He stopped abruptly after passing the threshold. "One more thing Ichigo: There's something coming that you might want to look out for. Just beware of strange people and…" Shinji turned to face Ichigo. "Never use your mask in front of Shinigami. If they discover what your are truly capable of, you will be executed."

Before Ichigo could respond the door slammed shut. While this would normally not have been enough to stop Ichigo, moments after that the entire warehouse disappeared with a loud whooshing noise. Just to make sure he went so far as to run to where it had been, but was met with only empty space. Even the ground was completely solid, no longer having even a trace of the door that led to the underground training area.

The vizard were gone.

* * *

"Kukaku." She reached forward and picked up a sake glass. She downed it. "Please don't ignore me like this." 

She reached for the bottle and poured another glass for herself. "I'll do whatever the hell I feel like doing to you, after what you did."

There was no playing innocent to that. Though Ukitake and Rukia had both personally apologized for the incident with Kaien, the Shibas were still somewhat distrustful. Still Jushiro thought he had a way to break through the wall. "About Kaien." Already Kukaku was tense. "As it turns out, his soul had been dragged to Hueco Mundo with that hollow Kuchiki-san defeated. She met with the beast that was using his soul while there, and destroyed it. Your brother's soul is finally at peace." This would take some time to sink in.

They allowed a minute to pass. Kukaku reached up and wiped away her tear. "What do you want, Jushiro?"

He didn't smile, it would be inappropriate after what he just said. He just answered her question. "Uryu Ishida."

He heard the faintest chuckle. "Sorry, Can't help you."

"I wouldn't believe that for a second you didn't know his whereabouts."

She smiled and raised her head a bit. "Oh I know exactly where he is. But I can't tell you. See he beat you to the punch. Cam in here a few weeks ago and asked for one meal, one night's sleep, and that if any Shinigami were to come looking for him, I wasn't supposed to tell them where to look. A promise is a promise after all."

* * *

"Excuse me!! Have you seen a young man named Uryu with dark hair, glasses, and a permanent scowl? No? All right." The young woman sat down on the steps of the building. "This is going to take forever." 

"Heh, Maybe for you, but I'll find him."

"LIKE HELL YOU WILL!!! I'M THE ONE WHOSE GONNA FIND HIM!!!"

"PLEASE!!! YOU COULDN'T FIND YOUR SHOES WITHOUT A MAP AND GUIDE!!! I know, I was there this morning."

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!!! DAMNIT!!! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU URYU ISHIDA!!!"

"Ishida?" Immediately the two third seats were in the woman's face each asking a barrage of questions that were completely negated by the others loud yelling. Within moments their yelling deteriorated into insults aimed at the other.

Eventually the woman backed away a bit, gaining their attention. Finally in unison with each other they managed to ask "Did you see him?"

Still quite frightened by the odd behavior of the Shinigami, she began to speak. "Well, there was a young man named Ishida that came through here. But his name wasn't Uryu, and he didn't have a scowl at all. He was actually quite the gentlemen. He helped my family out with tasks, and even fixed some of our clothing. And all he wanted was a place to stay the night and a single meal."

Kiyone slapped her hand onto Sentaro's face to stop him from saying anything. "But his name wasn't Uryu?"

The woman shook her head. "No, his name was Souken."

Sentaro quickly grabbed Kiyone and put her in a head lock. "Which way did he go?"

* * *

"Thank you so much Ishida-san. Really I usually have such a problem carrying this all home since the men are always off gambling." 

"It's not a problem. Though, if possible, could I stay here for the night?"

"A drifter in the soul society, and from your eating you have Reiatsu, but you don't carry a sword. You certainly are an oddity. But yes, some of them will probably just pass out on the streets so we will have extra beds. It won't be a problem for you to stay here." The woman put her load of water down, followed quickly by her helper.

This helper then stood and looked around. The building was in disrepair, and from her descriptions of the men, so were the inhabitants. "I must wonder why you stay here when your house mates are so despicable."

"Despicable as they are, it's better to have strong men on your side then against you, even if they are drunks and gamblers. They protect us from the worse criminals, and I protect the children from them. So it all works out."

"How awful." _'The outer districts really are quite bad. I guess I have no choice, but it will mean leaving quickly.'_ "Ma'am, who would be so heartless as to attack you that you would need protection?"

She paused for a moment. "Why would you need to know?"

"Just curiosity."

She didn't believe him for a second. "There's one gang, the Watari family, who enjoy stealing from the poorer families."

"I see."

"Ishida-san, if you try something, please be careful, they are a ruthless bunch."

He smiled. "Don't worry. I would never think of doing something so reckless."

The next morning the 78th South district's Watari family was found beaten into submission by an unknown assailant. The only clue was that the last one standing had been told not to harm anyone anymore, or else.

That, and Souken Ishida was nowhere to be found.

* * *

As he drifted Uryu gave people his grandfathers name instead of his own, he wasn't entirely sure why at first, but he reasoned it would make it marginally more difficult for Shinigami to find him. He had also developed a streak of vigilantism, which felt justified by the attitudes of many in the outer districts. Some of these people were so horrible it baffled Ishida how they had avoided the gates of hell upon death, but he reminded himself that some of these people were born here. 

Something had been bothering him for some time though. A large force of Reiatsu had been closing in on him. It was obviously a Shinigami, so he had taken extra steps to avoid it. This had required him to travel farther each day, a side effect of which was that he had less time to help someone in order to get a place to stay.

Today was especially significant. The Reiatsu was in the same district. _'I'll simply go without sleep for a night, I can do that much.'_ While he was confident, a rumbling in his gut warned him of his limits. Ignoring the gnawing hunger he pressed on. Walking all through day and a great deal into the night.

By then he was exausted. For weeks now he had been eating only enough to keep himself conscious, his Reiatsu serving as more of a disability then an aid. And he had used quite a bit to take down those thugs earlier that day. These streets were full of drunks and other cretins. Many of them already curled up on the edge of the streets against buildings.

It was a position that was looking increasingly appealing to Ishida.

* * *

Uryu had the sudden sensation of being doused in water. Ice cold water. It was an unpleasant sensation to say the least and he shot up wide awake in response. As soon as he was up right something was shoved into his mouth. It was a spring roll, and a voice said. "Eat it so that you can stand up." 

Uryu devoured it greedily. Upon finishing it he felt around until he found his glasses, thankfully not stolen from him. Before he even had them on he knew exactly who was standing in front of him. The shihakusho's though only visible as blurs could not be mistaken. Neither could the white haori that denoted a captain. And there was only one captain in all of Seireitei with flowing white hair and the constant company of two adjutants. He slid his glasses on. "Jushiro Ukitake."

"Hello to you as well Uryu Ishida. I must say we didn't expect to find you in a place like this."

Uryu examined his situation. It was very early in the morning and he was lying in a black alley, surrounded by people who had no doubt been spending their whole night drinking. He stood up somewhat quickly. "This isn't what it looks like. I collapsed from hunger."

Ukitake nodded and smiled. "I understand completely. You were running from us and didn't take time to find food. But you have no need to run from us, we don't have any intention of arresting you, I merely wanted to talk with you about your potential. If you are indeed hungry I would be happy to give you some food."

"No thanks." Each of his arms were suddenly grabbed by a Shinigami.

"Captain Ukitake offers you food…"

"And you dare turn him down? Rude!"

They began to pull him back and managed to shove him towards a rickshaw. Jushiro grabbed his shoulder. "Kiyone, Sentaro, pay the rickshaw and thank him for bringing me this far, but our friend is in a hurry. I would rather not waste any of his time so I'll go on ahead with him."

Quite suddenly Ishida was aware that with such minimal contact Jushiro was able to transport them quite a distance. It wasn't through shunpo either, it had been a kidou. Whatever technique it was clearly required some effort on Ukitake's part though. As soon as they landed the captain reached up and held his hand to his mouth. Ishida reacted by helping to support the man. "You shouldn't have done such an exhausting thing." The worst part was the Uryu felt guilty about it.

Luckily Ukitake was feeling particularly well on this day, and despite this most recent move being quite tiring he was able to hold on and not cough up any blood. "Don't worry. I'll be fine." He gave a very reassuring smile. "Now then, let's get something to eat. 1st district south has some of the best Umeboshi.

Ishida was actually impressed. Going from the 68th district east to the 1st south would take a few days minimum, but here they were after only an instant. And the food did smell delicious.

After what was the most rewarding meal Ishida had had since his first day in soul society he had almost forgotten his company. He was reminded when Jushiro suddenly asked a question. "Would you ever consider becoming a Shinigami?"

"Never."

Ukitake sighed. "I suppose I expected that answer. Why not?"

"Shouldn't you have guessed my answer to that question as well?"

"Mayuri?" The name was enough to make Ishida cringe. "If it makes you feel any better I cannot stand him either. Nor does most of his squad or the rest of Seireitei for that matter."

"Yet he holds one of your most coveted positions."

"He has his moments. His research into Gigai's has increased the survival rate of earthbound operatives. His examination of Hollow biology and formation has allowed us to save countless souls. I leave it to you to judge him based on either his actions or his intents, but good has come from his existence." Ishida clenched his jaw and his fist. "I can promise you that you won't be placed in squad twelve."

"Like that matters. I have personally witnessed how inhumane members of any squad can be."

"And from them you have deemed that there is no humanity among any of the squads?"

Uryu was trapped. How could he respond to that? Speaking with a man he knew to be decent, and who was also a Shinigami. "There is definitely goodness in the Shinigami ranks. But from my experience it is the weaker part of your ranks."

"I agree." Once more Ishida's ego received a blow. "In the current situation can you blame me for attempting to recruit a decent man such as yourself?"

Ishida froze for a good long while.

When he finally unfroze, with his thoughts in order he said this: "I concede." Ukitake was a little taken back by the comment. It wasn't a contest to him. "I can think of no logical reason not to become a Shinigami."

"Excel-"

"However. I refuse to go to that academy. I'll train my own way."

"Uh! Well… I suppose that is a possibility, however if that is the case then there is one thing I need to do first. Just from sitting nearby you as you ate I can tell your reiatsu is well above that of the average seated officer. As such, you should have already attracted a spirit." Ukitake stood and walked towards Ishida's side of the table. "All we have to do is get it out of there."

It didn't take more then a tap to the head. Quite suddenly Jushiro was holding a sheathed sword. It was a western style long sword, the scabbard was blue, the silver cross guard ended in two opposite facing arrows, and at the hilt was a pentacle.

"I don't know what Kurosaki-san had to go through in order to obtain a zanpakuto as a human, but as a soul all that you need is someone more experienced who knows where to look. Oh, this certainly is an odd sword. It seems that the spirit within it has adopted some of the culture of the Quincy into its form. Considering this shape, it's very likely your shikai will be a further reflection of that heritage. But who can tell." He handed the sword to Ishida and walked out of the room.

Ishida quickly followed. "Wait!! Why are you so eager to help me?"

Ukitake turned around. "I know you still want to fight Ishida-kun. And now you have that opportunity. Oh, one more thing. Kukaku, while not truly a Shinigami herself she is a wise woman and knows of our ways in detail. Well, good luck Ishida-kun."

He walked away towards the gate. Uryu turned west.

'_Even though I am dead, my actions can still have meaning. And being a Shinigami, though against the Quincy way, may allow me to save countless innocents. I can not pass up such an opportunity. So, this is the path I must walk.'_

_

* * *

_

A/N: Hooray for SHINIQUINCY!!! I also managed hint at my plot. way up there in the part with ichigo. BTW prepare for the written version of a training montage.


	6. Observations

A/N: Happy thanksgiving. I got nothing else.

Disclaimer: Did I ever disclaimer this? I can't remember, and I don't want to check, so I'm just going to do it here. I don't own anything, one, or place relating to bleach, the manga or the chemical. I'm not making any money by writing any of this, in fact i'm losing money. Tite kubo should owe me for advertizing his series, but I won't pursue it.

Reviews:

Hwon: That song was effing hillarious, but I decided to cut down the montage to get to the good bits in better detail.

Marada: Really? I'm the first one to write this? Seriously? I guess I'm the only fic writer that actually likes the character enough to write a fic that has heavy emphasis on something other then him screwing someone.

* * *

Chapter 6: Observations

In the weeks since their return from Hueco Mundo many things had happened. Among them was a small funeral service for Uryu, who had officially been killed in a hit and run. The service was only attended by Ichigo, Chad, Orihime, Ryuken, and Isshin. Ichigo was surprised to find out that his dad actually knew Uryu's, but figured it was because of their similar medical professions. By far the most eventful part of this day was when Ryuken confronted the three teenagers as they were departing. He passed a glance at Chad, focused on Ichigo for a moment with a glare, and when his eyes hit Orihime he paused. He turned away and walked away without a word.

After the funeral the three decided to get something to eat. Orihime was tearful about the whole affair, but her companions had maintained their usual appearances of stoicism and scowling. At one point as they sat together, Ichigo said "It's hard to think of him as really dead, since we know exactly where he is."

Orihime wiped her eyes and looked up. "Yeah. I wonder if we could go see him."

Chad made "hmph" noise and had the other's attention. "I don't think they'd let us just talk to him. He is dead after all; we can't try and convince ourselves otherwise."

Orihime frowned again. "Yes, you're probably right."

Ichigo suddenly growled. "That jerk. Getting himself killed like that."

Things were silent. Eventually it was getting a little late so they decided to escort Orihime to her home at the Urahara shop. On the way Orihime asked out loud "I wonder what Ishida-san is doing right now in soul society?"

* * *

"Your reiatsu responds to visual stimulus, in other words you think of a picture and it shapes your reiatsu. A basic reiatsu flow is produced when you think of a black circle, but more complex forms of reiatsu require more complex images. This is the true purpose of the chants for kidou, as it allows the mind to produce the proper images through auditory stimulus and enhance the effect. With mastery comes the ability to properly form the reiatsu without need of an auditory aid, save for the name of the spell which is a valuable enhancing agent. All current Kidou can be split into two categories, Hado, spells that destroy, and Bakudo, spells that aid or impede. The most basic of these spells is bakudo 1: Sai. The incantation is as follows…" (A/N: fan made BS)

The book that Kukaku had given Ishida went on and on like this. Most of it was redundant or self explanatory to someone like himself, who had been trained to wield reiatsu with ease since childhood. The incantations themselves were simple enough to learn, and despite the tome's continuous backtracking to earlier and easier spells Ishida was already fully capable of using kidou into the 20s without incantation, and he was working on the 30s.

He began flipping through the pages at high speed, skimming them as he went. Finally it reached something new to him. He turned to the tree. "Ye Lord! Mask of flesh and bone, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, Upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws! Hado 33 Sokatsui!" A wave of bright blue energy shot from Ishida's extended arms and hammered into the tree trunk. When the smoke and dust cleared the tree was missing a good portion of its lower half.

The explosion caught the attention of Ganju who had been lazily napping near by. "Jeez could you be any louder? I'm not quite deaf yet. Whoa!" Ishida was quite proud of his handy work, as his smile revealed. Ganju suddenly hit him on the head. "You idiot!! Do you see what tree you just blasted?!"

Ishida looked at it, and then looked up. It was one of the two trees that had recently been repurposed to hold up Kukaku's banner. And now it was beginning to sway. The two panicked but could do nothing to stop the tree from falling to the ground, taking the banner with it.

Behind them they heard the scream of anger. Ganju spun and dropped to his knees and began begging while simultaneously blaming everything on Ishida. Ishida on the other hand, had some dignity. He stood still, prepared to take what would come.

After they both received a thorough beating and her enormous servants had gotten to work fetching a new tree she sat down and asked how Uryu was progressing. Ganju, who was supposed to be supervising the kido training couldn't really answer. Ishida however stood up and dusted himself off. "This stuff is simplistic. I'm actually more concerned with learning how to release my zanpakuto." He looked over at the weapon, leaning against a wall of the Shiba house. "Ukitake said you would be able to help me in my personal training and so far I have learned a great deal about kido, but neither of you have shown any interest in teaching me zanjutsu."

Kukaku blinked at him. "Impatience isn't good. We'll start on zanjutsu after you've gotten the kido mastered to a decent level. Trust me, it will help. The more control one can exert over ones own spiritual powers the more a zanpakuto will respect them, thus allowing you easier access to its power. So stop complaining and get to work."

"Just what is this sufficient level? I've already used level 40 Hado and I can use the 20s without incantation. How much more do I need to learn?"

Kukaku glanced at Ganju, who had failed completely at informing her of Ishida's progress. But before she could answer there was someone else present.

Ishida turned around as soon as he could sense the other presence and waited for the bearer to show themselves. It was a familiar reiatsu, but he couldn't quite place it.

* * *

Keigo held his staff pointed forward. Though almost invisible, a person with good spiritual sense would be able to make out a thin barrier extending outward from the tip, forming a wall that protected Keigo from Tatsuki's assault. Ichigo watched alongside Urahara. "Hey hat and clogs, you aren't really encouraging them to fight at their current level are you? I mean it's impressive and all sure, but, they're still below the level we were at when we first went to soul society."

Kisuke nodded. "It's true. They don't have nearly the same potential that you and your friends have always possessed. However the strength they gain here should be enough to protect themselves and others from hollow attacks, which they will be a target of now that they are aware of their spiritual power."

Ichigo scratched his head. "Alright, but do they know that?"

"I have explained the situation many times."

Finally Tatsuki managed to break through Keigo's shield and he ducked under an incoming punch. She grabbed his shirt as he started to crawl away. With a single pull she was able to pick him up and toss him several yards away so that he rolled in the dirt. Triumphant, she smiled and looked around. "All right where's Mizuiro? It's about time I got to fight him too."

A rock to the side of the field fell into two pieces. "Over here Arisawa-san, but I thought we agreed that I wouldn't fight people because my power cuts things?"

"Oh yeah, but fighting Keigo is so boring. All he does is defend himself and then cower when I break his defense."

Urahara jumped down. "Well if you're all so bored I have an idea, let's have a test! I think it's about time for that. Why don't the three of you go find a hollow and destroy it. Any hollow will do, just don't come back until you've beaten one."

"About damn time. HEY! Ichigo! See that! I guess I don't need your guys' protection from now on!" He gave her sidelong glance, contemplated how wrong she was, and went back to his thoughts.

* * *

"Nemu Kurot-" Ishida stopped himself before he could finish the name that he despised so greatly. "What are you doing here?"

She hadn't moved since they had come into view. After a moments hesitation she bowed her head and said "I am here by order of both captain of squad twelve Mayuri Kurotsuchi and Head Captain Yamamoto. My purpose is to officially record and examine the progress of Uryu Ishida." The three of them were taken back, so she continued. "In all the vast history of the soul society no being such as yourself, Quincy or otherwise a human with awareness and powers, has become a Shinigami. This makes a record of such events important. As Mayuri-sama is busy with his other captain's duties, but a high ranking member of the research institute is required, I was sent in his place."

Ishida took a moment to ingest the information. Just as he was about to reply by telling her to go away, se began speaking again. "In truth Mayuri-sama chose me in the hopes that your softness towards women would make you easier to access. I feel that being honest would be more effective however. Also this comes as a direct order, and I will observe you covertly if necessary, but I would prefer not to."

Once more Ishida was struck. It took him a longer moment to consider an answer. "Very well. But I refuse to work directly with your captain." In response she nodded and then continued to stand right where she was. Having come to terms with her presence Ishida turned back to his so-called teachers. "Now then Kukaku, about that zanjutsu training…"

"That's all you have to say about her?" Ganju got right in Ishida's face as he said this.

"Ganju! Shut up and sit down you idiot." She threw Ganju back by the shoulder while saying this. "Ishida, if you don't have a problem with her staying here then I sure as hell don't. But this isn't a charity here. You're working double to support her too."

"That won't be necessary. I do not require any nourishment or rest, so long as I don't overexert myself. It is how I was designed."

The use of such a term to describe what was visually identical to any normal human was unnerving to the three of them, and her statement only furthered their awkward position. Ishida finally found it in him to turn and say "If you say so." Trying desperately to ignore her presence, once more he turned away from Nemu. "Kukaku-san?"

Averting her eyes from the strange girl and back to her pupil, Kukaku nodded. "Ganju! Get your cleaver and prepare to fight Uryu here."

* * *

Uryu had some skill with a sword already; he wouldn't have dared to hold a Seele Schneider without it. However there were two factors that limited him to the point that Ganju was able to get something of an advantage. The first limitation was that he was not allowed to use any kido; of course he had expected this as this was a zanjutsu lesson. Second, Kukaku had forbid him from using his high speed moving technique, which since coming to the soul society had evolved into a near perfect fusion of the Hirengyaku and the Shunpo.

These restrictions were enforced by a pair of bracelets and anklets which locked his reiatsu.

What made things difficult were that Ganju was allowed to use any abilities that he wanted.

With some interesting applications of Ganju's new and improved longer range super seppa, as he insisted it be called when not being used, Ganju had been able to catch Uryu off balance twice. Luckily with a little effort Ishida had avoided being cut.

As the battle wore on though it became painfully obvious that Ganju was using only a single tactic, with no effort to adapt it. As such Uryu was now quickly able to react when Ganju used seppa and could counter approipriately from a good range with his longer weapon.

Just as one such attack was about to hit Ishida was suddenly blocked by a sword wielding Kukaku. "Good job so far, now we just need to make you feel a little more desperate."

From that point on it was both of them attacking him. Ishida quickly discovered that they were fairly well organized, having possibly fought together before. Their unified efforts sent Ishida into an immediate defensive, no longer able to keep up without his reiatsu.

While desperately dodging and blocking blows Kukaku began to explain things to him. "In most cases a person cannot achieve shikai without at least a century or so of training and combat. How ever, this is the rule that normally applies to those with weaker levels of reiatsu. For a person like your self, with high reiatsu and excelent control, you should already be able to use the shikai; the only thing stopping you is the spirit itself. It doesn't trust you yet. Because you don't trust it." She swung her blade down hard onto Ishida's and the blades began scratching at one another. "You'd better put all your faith into the spirit in their saving you, because if it doesn't save your life, nothing else will."

Shocked by her admitting to having murderous intent, Ishida lost focus on his blade, and she was able to repel him. Thrust a few feet back, Ishida caught his footing and glared at his teacher. She dropped her sword and pointed her arm right at him. Slightly behind her Ganju also extended his arm. "Seppa!"

Ishida's feet sank into the ground and it hardened around them. Without his reiatsu he couldn't release himself in any timely fashion. Kukaku scoffed at him. "I'd get begging that sword to show his face right about now. You see this method only works if you really believe you're going to die. It was developed by non other than Urahara Kisuke. Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens. Hado 63: Soren Sokatsui!"

As soon as she began the incantation Ishida tried in vain to get his legs out of the ground, but the earth simply held on. When that failed, he took up his sword and held it in front of him. _'I guess I have to take their advice. You hear that in there? I don't know what your name is, but I could sure use any help you can offer. Either that, or the amount of reiatsu she's pouring out really will kill me.'_

There was no response.

At first…

Ishida felt something on his shoulder and turned to see it, only for it to vanish. In that same instant he felt something on his other shoulder, but this time it had a voice, deep and smooth, with an out of place echo. _**'Heh…heheheh. Are you really that dull?'

* * *

**_

Ishida was quite suddenly standing on a massive tree branch, surrounded by an impossibly thick forest, so thick that he could see neither ground nor sky. Just as suddenly the air was filled with black birds that flew around him in an upward spiral. When the haze of fluttering wings passed Ishida checked his surroundings once more. All that had changed was that he was no longer alone on this tree.

There was a single small black bird in front of him. Its beak never moved but the same voice as before was speaking to him. _**"Well, what do you think of it?"**_ Not sure of how to respond Ishida simply gaped. _**"I thought so. You can't even see it can you? You are so limited by your dependence on sight, when it's not even that impressive of an ability, and yours is sub par to begin with. Oh well. I've shown it to you, so now you owe me one."**_

"What is this place?"

"_**Wow, what a juvenile question. You're in your head. And now you are leaving."**_

"Wait! If this is my mind, then what are you? Are you my zanpakuto spirit?"

"_**MY? Zanpakuto Spirit? Wow, how rude. I feel like taking the time to explain this one to you. I don't belong to you. I'm not "yours". If anything, from my point of view, you're mine. But I wouldn't be so rude as to be like a tyrant. This whole game you're playing, trying to lure me out, trying to get me to give you my shikai ahead of time, I won't stand for it.**__**"**_ As his speech continued Ishida noticed more and more birds gathering on nearby trees, many of them defying gravity. The voice now seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, and was growing more malicious. _**"I came here of my own will and chose you for a particular reason. However I have no intention of serving a disrespectful master. You will learn my name when I give it to you, not a moment sooner. And I will give it too you, when I feel like it. Not when a couple of your friends start making insincere death threats. Now get out."

* * *

**_

Ishida was back outside, and could no longer hear his zanpakuto voice. A part of him was grateful, but the feeling didn't last long with the enormous blue blast of energy still closing in on him.

The light encompassed his entire field of vision, before a thin black line appeared in it.

The two blasts of energy shot off in different directions. One bounded harmlessly into the ground nearby, while the other was launched up in a long arc, ending off a good 30 feet away. Ishida was looking into the back of Nemu, who had leapt into defend him at the last second.

"Why did you…?"

Nemu glanced behind her before beginning to walk back towards her previous position. "A reaction was recorded, but it was brief and would not have been sufficient to grant you either the speed or power to deflect the blasts. My intervention simplified things."

"You saved my…"

"Not really." Kukaku sighed out. "The blasts were aimed in such a way that they would detonate right before hitting you. You would have lived. A bad concussion and some burns but nothing we couldn't fix."

"I see, it seems my zanpakuto was aware of that and wasn't willing to come to my aid. It did say something to that effect."

Kukaku picked up her sword and sheathed it. "I see, well this ploy won't work again. Guess you'll have to work it out with him. Once you've made contact with him it shouldn't be nearly as hard to do it again."

"Alright then, one last thing." Ishida glared at his tutors. "Can you please et me out of this hole?"

* * *

"Sir, Nemu's report just came in. Just as you predicted he has already made contact with his zanpakuto spirit, according to her observations, it was somewhat antagonistic of him, refusing to help him despite a potentially life threatening circumstance."

"I see. You are dismissed, Kurotsuchi."

"Very well, sir."

After Mayuri had gone Yamamoto was left to his thoughts. _'So quickly, and the same attitude…I pray not…'

* * *

_

A/N: still got nuthin.


	7. Introductions

A/N: This chapter is all about introducing OCs and so there isn't much going on with the "main" cast. Still, I think from this chapter you'll start to understand the plot I have planned out.

Reviews: wow, 4, this thing is growing in popularity. Thanks everyone.

Britts: Thanks

Balmung: That's what I try and do. I figure I'm out here, _stealing_ someone else's backstory for my own plot the least I could do is make it believable. Thanks for the compliment, and I just thought I'd say I loved .hack//sign.

Hwon: That sword is an interesting OC in itself, and it's not done abusing Ishida. I am however almost sure that I'm done abusing Ganju, sorry. Oh, and just cuz I'm a rebel, CHAOS!!!!

Marada: Is your name a typo? Nevermind anyway, ouch I'm sorry to say you like hat about the sword, you might not like the next chapter then, but I will say no more. As for the pairings, they are going to be very slow to build, like I said at the beginning. I think I mentioned something about no one getting emotional unless they were impaled, and I'll hold true to that.

* * *

Chapter 7: Introduction

The sharp noises of the harp did not echo in this space. It was far too small for any echo to develop that would be noticeable. There was only one person who played such an instrument in this space.

Her compatriots occupied themselves in other ways.

One meditated.

One watched silently into the black abyss that served as a wall.

Two of them watched their master, though their reasons were different. While one looked on reverently, the other obediently.

The master himself sat, also silent but with a look on his face that was something between content peace and infinite patience.

The harp was the only sound, and the player's fingers were the only movement.

Breaking this harmony of sound and stillness, the more reverent of the master's onlookers stood and walked over to the harpist. They looked down at the instrument, and despised it.

The fingers stopped their movements. The player looked up and smiled. "What's the matter Ayame? You look a little angry. Would you like to request a different song?"

Ayame gritted her teeth. "I want you to stop playing that thing. Or, I will destroy it, Mai."

Mai, the musician, continued to smile, and tilted her head. "Oh, If you broke my harp I'd kill you. It would do us all some good too, we'd have something to eat."

Ignoring the warning Mai reached to her waist and began to draw a sword. She was stopped by a hand. "Ayame, don't be foolish. It's not worth it. Sit. Be calm." She immediately bowed before her master and sat down on the ground.

Suddenly the master's eye's focused on movement. The man who had been so stalwartly gazing at the walls was turning around to stare at his lord. "It is almost time. Very soon we will be free from here."

Immediately everyone focused on their ally who had moments before been staring at the black walls. The man who had been meditating stood. "Are you certain Kaku?"

Kaku nodded, and turned to face the master afterwards. "Did you hear me, Menboku-sama?"

"In this tiny space, it is impossible to ignore any voice. What can you tell me about where we will appear after leaving this place?"

Kaku looked around at the place that had been their effective home for so long. It was a pure cube, black on all inner walls. It was barely 20 feet wide on all sides, giving the people inside no personal space. There was also no sun in this place, nothing to guide them or allow them to count days. Kaku himself had fallen asleep in this place at least 300 times, though that was hardly indicative of the amount of time that had passed. His only means of examination had been through the walls of this space. Which when examined closely enough allowed a certain awareness of what was going on outside. "I think, that since we were launched outward from soul society, we will have been drifting through the between world, so we will likely arrive in the human world."

The meditating man walked forward a few steps towards the center of the cube. "Are you sure it won't be Hueco Mundo?"

Kaku turned and looked up to meet eyes with his enormous ally. "Don't worry Seijin. I am sure. Hueco Mundo exists as a completely separate plane, rather than being parallel as soul society and the human world. This is why souls cannot transfer between them in the natural process of death and rebirth."

"I'm not worried, I merely would have preferred to land where we could continue our campaign."

Mai stood up, propping her yamatogoto under her arm. "I can't wait to be in the human world again, to see the sun. Hueco Mundo is too much like this place, so dark and dreary. But we won't be there very long, will we, Sozo-kun?" The silent and obedient man stiffened at her phrase, but Sozo Menboku himself did not flinch. In response Mai ran forward and wrapped her arms around the silent man, spinning around to hug him from behind. "What's the matter Suba? You don't like my disrespectful tone? Your even too rigid for my tastes, though I've seen under these bandages and I've told you I liked it." She began pulling at the bandages that concealed Suba's face, but he grabbed her hand and pushed her away.

Sozo stepped forward into the very center of the cube. From this position he was surrounded on all sides by his subordinates. "We will return to the soul society. Maybe this time, they will hear our words and not be so frightened. Perhaps we can become friends again."

Seijin crossed his arms. "Will there hearts have changed after just the year or so that has passed in this place?"

Kaku's monotone voice demanded attention. "The zanpakuto that created this space had the power to manipulate time as well, it is possible that time within this space is different then time outside. With that in mind, decades, maybe centuries may have passed while we have rotted in this place."

A strange reverberating noise could be heard within the cube. Sozo reached his hands upwards. "Please soul society, accept us once more, understand our vision and help us to destroy them!"

And the cube was broken.

* * *

Ichigo glanced around the classroom. Tatsuki, Mizuiro, and Keigo were absent again. This was three days in a row. She had been continuously harping on the others about their hollow slaying assignment, and now she was there every morning cutting them off and dragging them off to go looking for a fight along with her.

As his eyes continued to drift around the class room he hit on a large chunk of orange hair. _'Inoue…'_

Things had gotten, in a word, odd between him and Inoue. It didn't help that three days after Ishida's funeral when Ichigo made a comment about her being down ever since he died, Tatsuki felt the need to punch him and blurt out that Orihime was down because she was in love with him. The exact words, _'You idiot Orihime loves you!'_ had echoed in Ichigo's head for a while. And they continued to when ever he looked at her. In order to avoid the awkwardness he limited his time with her to school and escorting her to and from, staying in the Urahara shop only when he needed to talk with owner.

Now looking at the back of her head he felt like he always felt around her. Guilty.

Guilty because he didn't think he could reciprocate.

* * *

"Move it!!"

"A-A-Arisawa-san this isn't gonna work." Keigo was hunched and sullen. "These monsters don't just show up when ever you want them to. Sometimes they don't show up for weeks! We should just get back to school."

Mizuiro could have taken the opportunity to mention how Keigo had been talking about the hoards of hollows he saw all the time. However, after three days of being dragged around by their classmate in futile monster hunts he was ready agree with his friend. But then Mizuiro had a twitch. "Hey guys, I think I sense one."

They both knew to listen to him. As they had trained they had come to recognize each other's strengths and weaknesses. Tatsuki was strong, but could easily over exert herself and run out of reiatsu if she pushed herself too hard. Keigo on the other hand had endurance, and was able to maintain his abilities far longer then the others, but they were mostly defensive in nature. Mizuiro's powers were slow and could be blocked easily by even slight reiatsu, but if he hit he could seriously hurt people, and his true strength were his senses. Mizuiro could pinpoint reiatsu from miles off, and could use that information to avoid harming people when transporting with his powers or to pinpoint attack at great range.

"How far away is it? Do you need to port us over there?" Tatsuki asked.

He shook his head in response and started running towards it. "Just up ahead, in the alley."

The others followed him, and when they were in the middle of the alley Mizuiro stopped. "It's here, I just can't tell where exactly."

The other two couldn't sense anything. But then they heard it. It was loud, and horrible, the screech of a hollow.

Quite suddenly a shadow was cast over all three of them. They turned to face the monster, a massive dark skinned humanoid. It's mask was shaped like a sun with a crescent moon in it, but the crescent was filled with teeth and above this crescent were it's eyes. The hollow's arm reached forward, but was stopped by an invisible barrier.

Keigo had drawn his staff and projected his shield. "Well Arisawa-san, you got your wish, now do something about it!"

"Right!!" She cracked her knuckles and her armor appeared around them. Keigo released the shield and jumped back to avoid the incoming fist. As the hollow's arm sank into the street Tatsuki leapt at it's face and punched. It blocked with it's free hand and grabbed Tatsuki's. She freed herself by painfully breaking one of the hollows fingers with a kick, and leapt away as she hit the ground. "Hold it still so I can get at its mask!"

Mizuiro had already been prepping his powers the silver stream that normally formed his portals instead reached out and wrapped around the hollows neck, before tightening. Mizuiro grimaced. "It's got too much reiatsu for me to behead it, but I should be able to hold it still! Keigo! Bring down its arms!!"

"HAHA!! You finally called me by my first name!!!"

"Shut up moron we don't have any time for this!" Tatsuki leapt away from it again as it lashed out violently but was unable to move its head.

"Right!" Mizuiro's hold suddenly slipped and the creature lunged forward. Keigo immediately put up another shield, abandoning his plan to grab the thing's arms. "What's wrong Mizuiro? What happened?"

Mizuiro had suddenly been distracted by sensing a large number of reiatsus, at least five, which seemed to simply materialize above them.

The six individuals that did appear were immediately blinded by the light that surrounded them, forced to cover their eyes and wait to adapt. The only one not to be affected was Suba, whose eyes were completely concealed behind bandages. He immediately assessed the world around them only to discover that this was an alien world indeed. When the others recovered their sense of sight they too were shocked.

While their eyes danced over this new world, their other senses gave them familiar responses. Ayame was the first to move when she recognized that reiatsu, the reiatsu of a hollow. She ran to the edge of the building which had served as their landing pad and gazed over the edge into a space between two such structures. "Menboku-sama, come quick!! You'll want to see this!"

The group gathered around the edge of the building, looking down together at the ensuing battle.

Mizuiro had finally gotten his head back together and managed to bind the creature, this time by tying its legs together and holding him back. Unable to move, the hollow began reaching as hard as it could with it's arms, which the trio was sad to discover were slightly elastic. After one such attack Keigo found the opportunity he had been waiting for. He ran forward with his staff held horizontally. As soon as he was between the creature's arms he projected two force fields out which pinned them against the walls of the alley.

Her opening was there. Tatsuki ran forward, charging as much energy as she could into her fist, ready to break that thing into pieces.

Watching from above Sozo smiled. "They've done well. Suba." No sooner did the name escape his mouth then his companion disappeared.

Just as Tatsuki's fist was about to smash the hollow's face, her arm was caught by another. She instantly recognized a Shinigami, even if he had a unique appearance. Immediately after stopping her attack he disappeared again, and the hollow's face was split into two.

Landing back on the roof, Suba quickly dropped to his knees. Mai helped him up onto her shoulder and turned to face Sozo. "That was mean Sozo; none of us have the energy for shunpo yet. He could die if we don't get him some food soon."

Sozo nodded. "Yes. Perhaps they can assist us." The three young people in the alley were now gazing up at them. And the young woman was clearly disappointed.

"What the hell…" Tatsuki muttered this to herself before raising a fist and pointing at the Shinigami. "What the hell are you guys doing here!? I thought all the Shinigami got recalled to soul society after the battle!"

Knowing he was being addressed Sozo leapt from the top of the building to the ground. To his surprise his legs ached from such a simple maneuver. Standing up on his now sore appendages he looked right at the woman that had addressed him. "I'm sorry but, I don't know how to explain this." He looked around. "From the look of things some time has passed since the last time I was in the human world. My companions and myself have been trapped in the between world for what to us seemed like a year, but may have been much longer out here."

"A whole year? How did you guys survive?" The young man with brown hair was the one talking now.

His companions were now joining him on the ground, with some of them choosing to sit or lean rather the stand. Sozo noted their presence and their exhaustion. "It's dangerous, and difficult, but we Shinigami can survive on nothing but our own reiatsu for extended periods of time, given that we don't over exert ourselves. And in the between world, specifically in the part we were trapped in there is no gravity, and space itself was small, so we did not require much to live. But now…"

Sozo was now visibly shaking from the effort to remain standing. The three of them saw this and looked around at the Shinigami with obvious suspicion.

Sensing their mistrust, Sozo bowed, after which he finally caved into his exhaustion and sat. "I'm sorry, I have asked you to trust us without even telling you our names. I am Sozo Menboku."

One of the women stepped forward in order to sit next to Sozo. She had long black hair but it was up in a bun. "Ayame Menboku."

A massive man who had taken to sitting cross legged near the wall of the alley spoke next, saying "Seijin…" The three examined him while waiting for him to finish. He was bald and at least 8 feet tall, and he still hadn't finished saying his name when someone else began to say theirs.

The next one to speak was the other woman, a taller and more adult woman whose long black hair cascaded well past her shoulders in fine strands. "Mai…"

Keigo interrupted. "I'm sorry I didn't hear all of that guys name over there."

After that someone else stepped forward. He wasn't very tall, perhaps only as tall as Tatsuki, and he wore small glasses which gave him a studious appearance. Perhaps most offsetting about him was that hard as they tried they could not sense any reiatsu from him at all. "You heard correctly. Seijin, Mai, Suba, and myself have no surnames. We gave them up, part of a Shinigami ritual. If memory serves me right the practice was on the verge of being banned before we were lost to the between world, so it may no longer be common. My name is Kaku. This is Suba."

He pointed to the finally member of their troupe, who was definitely the one with oddest appearance. His uniform was bound at the ankles, and had tighter arms. What skin should have been revealed by such clothing was instead covered in white bandages, obscuring all features.

Mizuiro now stepped forward. "I guess you guys need food right? Well come on, I'll take you to a place where you can get everything you need. It's this little shop owned by a shinigamiiiieeeee!"

Tatsuki grabbed Mizuiro by the shoulder and dragged him away, also pulling Keigo. "Wait for a minute we need to talk." She pulled them a few feet away into a huddle and bent in to it. "I don't trust these guys. Something's not right here."

Mizuiro nodded. "I agree, that's why I want to take them to Urahara-san. If anyone would know about who they are it would be him right?"

Tatsuki thought about it. "Good point, but lets not get too buddy with them ok?"

"Ok just please let go of me!" Keigo stood up as she respected his request.

Tatsuki turned back to the mysterious Shinigami. "Alright we're taking you to our teacher. His name is Kisuke Urahara."

With that said Mizuiro produced a portal to right outside the Urahara shop.

* * *

A/N: Like I said, you might have an idea what the plot is going to look like. But I guarantee the individual things will catch you off guard. 


	8. Weapons

A/N: Sorry for the long time but with finals coming out and some other more important RL related things I've been busy. But I've been thinking a lot about this fic and I've gotten pretty much everything sorted out.

Reviews:

Balmung: Yeah, Urahara is awesome. Also yes.

Madara: - fixed. And I'm glad you enjoy the fic.

* * *

Chapter 8: Weapons 

They walked through the gateway and it quickly shut behind the last of them. They now stood in front of the Urahara shop, the lack of bickering indicating to the students that Jinta and Ururu were elsewhere. Tatsuki stepped forward. "Hold on here, I'll see if anyone is home."

Shaking and obviously frightened, Keigo stuttered out "I'll-l g-go with Arisawa-s-san." HE quickly ran after her, no longer wanting to remain with the strangers, and leaving Mizuiro quite alone with them.

Mizuiro tried to put on a smile while looking toward them but it came out as very awkward. He was saved from the situation when Urahara came out of his shop followed by Keigo and Tatsuki.

"Hello there! Welcome to the Urahara shop! First time customers get a discount but I will need to charge full price for all later visits. Hmmm?"

Urahara's keen eyes immediately picked up on many interesting traits from these people. Rather then just looking at them and wondering though, he immediately asked for names and a back story.

He immediately doubted the full extent of their tale, but there were certain parts that did match up with his knowledge of soul society's history. First, the practice of giving up family names was indeed an ancient practice, and while some of the noble families and their vassal families still practiced it, it was largely non-existent. What bothered him most about their story were the marks they wore.

Each of these Shinigami wore a cloth patch on their hip. It was red and bore a white symbol of a talon gripping an orb. It looked familiar to Urahara, but he could not place it.

Running out of options, and not having enough evidence to fully suspect them of any evil, he invited them into the store to feed them.

As they ate Urahara took time to examine each of them individually and match his analysis to their names.

First he looked over the most interesting of them, not the leader as most would assume, but his apparent right hand man. The one who called himself Kaku. Despite having eaten and regained some reiatsu, Urahara could not make out any of him. He had no aura whatsoever. It almost scared Urahara to think of someone like that, someone who could manipulate their reiatsu so completely as to appear invisible to anything except the naked eye. Another thing Urahara made sure to recognize was the shape of his sword, which often says a great deal about the spirit within. It was a standard katana, but the cross guard was circular, formed from nine spikes that curved out from the blade and twisted together into a circle.

Second he looked at the oddest in actual appearance, Suba. In order to eat, he had removed the bandages from the bottom of his face. It was still concealed however, by a cloth that hung down. Woven into the cloth was a single symbol that read "forbidden". From the way he moved, he was clearly unable to see through those wrappings, instead locating things via sound or spiritual sense. His Zanpakuto was a ninjaken, and the hilt was standard but appeared to have a broken cross guard.

Next was the largest of his guests, Seijin. A massive man, perhaps as large as Sajin Komamura, which was funny given the similarity of their names.. He was bald and wore a line of charms around his neck. Each of the charms was wooden and had a symbol carved into it. Each symbol was either "forgive" or "repent" or something along those lines. When Urahara looked to his waste he saw something odd. This man had a daisho, or sword pair. one sword was a large one, perhaps a regular sized katana considering the sheer scale of the man, and the cross guard was a triangle. The other was much smaller, and appeared to be a regular katana.

Urahara then had the joy of looking over who was without a doubt the loveliest of his guests, the woman Mai. Her hair was incredibly long, even bound at the back of her head as it was it cascaded well past her shoulders and nearly to her bottom. She had a pretty face, with great dark eyes and an obviously sultry manner of holding herself. Distracting himself from her more appealing traits he gazed at her fingers. They were long and slender, and around each she wore a plectra, which was rather odd. At her waist she also wore a wakizashi as her zanpakuto. On her back she wore a traditional Japanese harp, more specifically a yamatogoto.

Next he examined the young woman, Ayame. She was no older then Tatsuki, and the two were somewhat similar in appearance. But Ayame's eyes were far darker, and her hair was smooth and straight as opposed to spiky. She sat next to their leader and ate one bite behind him. She had introduced herself with the same surname, so she had to have some relation to Sozo, but Urahara was unsure of what yet.

She also carried a daisho, but hers was formed of two evenly sized katana. For one, the cross guard had the form of some insect, and the other looked completely standard.

Finally, their leader. His black hair was cut short and was spiky atop his head. Beyond a simple shihakusho he also had a red cape. On it was the same symbol worn by the other's waists. He too was armed with a daisho, but it was the most interesting of them all. One sword was a katana with a circular cross guard and a bright blue sheathe. The other was a western style long sword, with a perfectly rectangular cross guard.

These were his guests, near dead when he had taken them in and now quickly recovering as they devoured several helpings of food each. Urahara could not sense Kaku, so he didn't know how to assess his strength, but from the others he could tell that these were far above the average Shinigami. Three of them he could sense were recovering to the extent that would indicate a captain level strength.

Sozo was strangely not among those three.

* * *

The sound of breathing filled the room. Slow and heavy, it was the breath of sleep. A flutter of wings could be heard and a strange reiatsu could be felt. That was all it took to wake the captain of the 8th squad, Shunsui Kyoraku. He scanned the room for what had disturbed his rest, and all he saw was a small crow. "Huh?" 

"_Hello…You should send someone from your squad to recruit Uryu Ishida. I've looked around and I think this squad would be best for starting out in.'_

He blinked at his guest. "Nanao-chan is right, I need to lay off the Sake right before I go to sleep." Without warning the bird flew right at him and scraped a talon across his cheek before vanishing. Shunsui reached up and touched his cheek where a single bead of blood had begun to spill.

Moments later Nanao entered the room. She was cracking her knuckles and taking a deep breath, prepared to use exhaustive measures to wake her captain up. She could not hide her surprise upon seeing that such efforts were unnecessary. "Captain? You're up? What happened to your cheek?"

Shunsui could handle the first two comments. It was the last one that got him thinking.

* * *

'_Hey Uryu…Uryu…Ahh there you are.'_

Ishida shot up off of his futon and gazed directly at the bird. It had only been a few days since he had first see that creature. Since then he had tried desperately to reenter that world and confront the bird like manifestation of his zanpakuto, with no success. Now here it stood. "Why do you appear to me now?"

"_I'll appear when I'm ready, and do as I feel is necessary. With that in mind, I am ready. When you need me to take aim, just ask."_

"What?" Ishida could figure out what was coming next, he just couldn't understand why now.

"_Karasotou. Nice to meet you…" _The crow was gone.

Ishida picked up his Zanpakuto and walked outside. He was usually awake at this time of day for his training so Nemu was already there to watch him. He unsheathed and lifted the sword into the air in front of him. "Take aim, Karasotou."

Nemu had felt the odd reiatsu emanating from within Ishida's room. She had expected him to demonstrate something new. But not this. Not Shikai. It was far too soon, far too easy. No Zanpakuto spirit would so willingly give over itself without an intense struggle, and Ishida was not pouring out nearly enough reiatsu to dominate even the most timid of zanpakuto. This meant that the Zanpakuto had willingly done this. She pondered the possibilities, and knew that the only piece that didn't fit, that could cause such deviation from the norm was his quincy heritage. It was reinforced when she finally examined the form of Ishida's shikai.

Not surprisingly, it was a bow. At it's center was a circle, with a vertical handle just slightly off center which Ishida's hand already gripped. From the outside of this ring extended six evenly spaced long white poles, each curved back slightly and topped with a string that connected to the pole opposite it, and all of them were bound at the center. Ishida's sheathe had also changed. It had grown wider and warped from his hip to his back, now attached to him by a blue and black sash. It was now a quiver.

After examining the weapon he reached behind himself to the quiver and gripped at the air. As he expected an arrow manifested in his fingers. He pulled it into his eye's range to examine it. It was bright blue and translucent. He brought it forward and strung it. The bow felt comfortable in his hands. He aimed at a nearby tree. Pull back and loose.

The arrow flew through the air at the tree. The tension in this moment shattered along with the arrow. It broke apart into pieces and disappeared into the air. The tree was unharmed.

"Ehhh?!" Was all Ishida could say.

While Ishida quickly strung more arrows and launched them with equal futility, Nemu relayed the latest development to her hell butterfly and sent it to her captain.

* * *

"Thank you, so very much for this life saving meal Urahara-san. I don't have any money, but perhaps there is some other way I could repay you?" Sozo bowed before making this statement, and rose only after finishing it. 

Urahara took the comment, and then stole one last gaze across the guests. "Don't worry about it, consider it my way of attempting to build up good karma! Now then, considering how long you have been trapped in the between world you all must want to rush on back to Soul society and try to regain your old posts! As a further act of goodness I would be happy to open a gateway for your use without the need for hell butterflies, but it will take about a week to complete, could you wait here in this city that long?"

"Of course, but…" He stood up. "We should not be burden upon you for that time. We are used to surviving without much, we will be able to last in this city." He started to leave, and his subordinates began to follow.

"Hey wait one last thing!" Sozo turned his head to look at Tatsuki. She stood up. "Why did you stop me? I was going to smash that hollow's head in and you got in my way. Why? We're you worried about me?"

He smiled. "No, you certainly had enough strength to destroy the creature. I was worried about the hollow. When a hollow is slain by a zanpakuto, it's spirit is cleansed and allowed to enter the soul society. When they are destroyed by humans with unique powers, they are simply annihilated. In the future, attack hollows only to prevent harm to others, and allow Shinigami such as myself to perform the actual killing. That is what I was told long ago, when I was still a human."

Keigo looked over at Urahara. "You never told us that part Urahara-san! I mean, that's just wrong!"

Mizuiro also stood up. "Yeah!! We were really going to destroy it!! How could you just let us do that!"

Urahara sighed. "From my point of view, it's more important to reduce the number of souls a hollow can devour, as they too are gone forever once eaten. Either way if you were truly going to be successful in destroying the hollow I'll consider your assignment complete, so don't worry about it, from now on you three will only fight out of necessity."

They were still uneasy with him, but they didn't say anything more.

The guests began to leave, and soon after Sozo stepped outside his eyes caught something new.

"Huh? Who are you guys?! I thought all of you went home already?" Ichigo scratched his head while looking at them.

Sozo tilted his head slightly. "Amazing. There seem to be so many people in this city who can see spirit beings. And furthermore this is the second time I have heard of there being other Shinigami here. Urahara dodged those questions, but perhaps you could answer them?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" He started walking towards them.

"Kurosaki-kun, these people, they're all really strong. I think some of them are even as strong as the captains."

Ichigo froze after hearing Inoue's soft voice from behind him. "Well you guys can't be normal Shinigami, cuz I've met all the captains." Ichigo reached into his pocket. Moments later he was jutted from his body, and transformed into a Shinigami. "So you guys better start talking right away. And I'll start this interrogation with an easy question. Does the name Sosuke Aizen mean anything to you?"

Sozo thought hard. "Sosuke Aizen…"

* * *

He had been shooting arrows off for hours. The tree had yet to take a scratch, and he had yet to feel any drain in energy. "So I can fire these arrows off without limit, what's the point if they don't get any benefit out of my reiatsu?" He had tried inserting his own reiatsu into the arrows, but it didn't work, the arrows would not take it. And beyond it's shape this bow granted him none of his other quincy powers, most importantly, he could not absorb local reishi in order to boost the strength of the arrows. Not even in a reishi rich environment like Soul Society. 

He took a spiteful look at his weapon. "How do you work?" It didn't respond. "Come on I'm asking you how I'm supposed to use you in combat the least you can do is train me how to attack with you before going mute again!!!"

"You mind keeping it down? Some of us don't particularly enjoy being up at dawn. Oh! Is that what I think it is?" Ganju walked out of the house and took a closer look at Ishida's weapon.

Ishida sighed. "Yes, unfortunately. The damn thing can't even scratch a tree. It's completely useless."

Ganju smirked. "Well there's your problem. Zanpakuto have feelings you know, you got to be nice to them and treat them like a friend or they snub you."

"I guess I should really take your advice as your zanpakuto is the definition of talkative."

Struck rather hard by that jab Ganju turned around. "That was low. Here let me see you try to use this thing. Shoot an arrow already."

Sighing, and expecting more of the same wasted effort, Ishida drew an arrow. He immediately noticed a difference. The arrow was glowing intense blue and it's shape was less pronounced. Not wanting to miss the moment he strung the arrow and let it loose. It flew straight and fast, plowing through the tree it hit. It continued to fly destroying whatever bits of nature it collided wth until it finally faded some sixty feet away. "It worked! Ganju-sa…Ganju?!"

Ganju had fallen to the ground, apparently unconscious.

Ishida quickly let go of his bow and propped up his friend to examine him. Ganju was alive, but completely drained of reiatsu.

Another hell butterfly was on it's way to deliver this news.

* * *

A/n: Pretty cool huh? It's kinda like I'm writing two stories at once, and I can't wait for them to collide. 


	9. Sides

A/N: Merry (insert ethnic/religious holiday of your choice here)(most likely Christmas)(though I know a Jewish guy that just loves his Bleach)(not the cleaning material)(though he uses that too)

Reviews:

Hwon: Freedict,that's the one I use. And it can do more then just Japanese.

Orihime: Well, they don't have the same zanpakuto, just similar western style shape. And yeah, Ishida's got a pretty cool ability there, but don't get me wrong, it has it's limits.

Raven: Wow, thanks for all the reviews. And yes, Karasotou is an interesting spirit.

Madara: Maybe…

* * *

Chapter 9: Sides

"Sosuke Aizen? No, I've never heard of such a man. Who is he?"

Ichigo lowered his guard only slightly. It didn't look like they were lying, but he didn't believe he could be positive. "If so then who are you guys? You're obviously Shinigami, but I've never met any of you."

Sozo sighed. "Everyone here is so rude. There was incident, from what we've learned it seems it was some time ago, and as a result we have been out of touch for quite a long time. Now, please tell me, who is Aizen?"

Ichigo hand still held his zanpakuto cautiously, but he was much less tense. "Aizen, he's a Shinigami who defected from soul society, and sided with Hueco Mundo. He's become a leader for the Arrancar."

Sozo's eyes bulged and he took a slow, methodical breath as if fighting some internal rage. "Your name is Kurosaki correct? We are not adversaries Kurosaki-san. It cannot be abided, an alliance with the hollows. I swear at this moment that I will be the one to slay this Aizen Sosuke for his transgressions."

Ichigo was a little surprised to hear such a thing. But he wasn't so surprised as to drop his guard. The woman standing slightly behind Sozo moved. She was using shunpo, but Ichigo could track it. He immediately spun while drawing his sword. At the end of the motion his blade was just an inch away from the woman's throat.

She smiled. "So edgy. Calm down, I was just going to look you over, kawai-kun." Ichigo blinked and began to blush a little. "I really like young guys like you…" She turned a little and saw Orihime looking rather oddly at her. "Oh I'm sorry, is he already yours?"

The faces of both Ichigo and Orihime went red immediately, but neither said a thing. Mai simply smiled in response. "Well, kawai-kun if you ever feel lonely, come find me, Mai."

"Mai. You really should have learned your lessons the last time. Leave the boy alone, I imagine Menboku-sama would like to hold council." Seijin cracked his neck as he spoke.

"Yes I would. Kurosaki-san, and…"

"Inoue." Ichigo finished for him.

"ahh, Inoue-san. I will hold true to what I swore. To that end I would like some private time to discuss with my comrades. If you would excuse us."

Ichigo finally let go of his sword, using his arms to emphasize his speech. "Wait! How are going to plan a battle against Aizen when you don't know anything about him and his army?"

Sozo smiled. "Well, I do know enough already. You mentioned Arrancar, these are beings that I have met with in the past, and I assure you I can handle them with the utmost ease. Just as easily as any Shinigami really. I will return to Seireitei in order to secure a captain's position, and from there I will travel to Hueco Mundo and destroy the traitor, Sosuke Aizen."

His voice hadn't wavered at all. As far as anyone listening could tell, he was completely serious.

* * *

"He'll live, but he sure was drained. Geez, that sure is some ability you have there. Draining reiatsu to fuel an attack!" Kukaku sighed.

Ishida nodded, not really listening but agreeing anyway. _'It must be proximity based, no, that wouldn't make sense for a ranged weapon like mine. Maybe I just had to be concentrating on his presence. Yes that has to be it. But what about Nemu? She was present the entire time. However, Nemu's altered physiology makes her harder to sense, so that could have interfered with the weapon. Damn, if he'd only talk to me I could get the information from the source!'_

"Hey Uryu! Are you listening!!!! Get your head out of your ass and pay attention!!!"

Snapped out of his thoughts Ishida faced the annoyed Shiba and cautiously began listening to her.

She sighed to calm herself down. Had he ignored her any longer she would have hit him. "Well, you've got your shikai, and there's not much more I can teach you about Kido. You've certainly got the skills and the experience to get a seated position so there isn't much reason for you to stay here."

As if on cue, a feminine voice could be heard coming from out side the building. "Uryu Ishida!! Uryu Ishida!!! I come on behalf of Seireitei!! Where the hell are you is anyone home in there?!"

* * *

"Are you certain of this?!"

Mayuri shrugged. "I have not gotten visual conformation myself, but the message Nemu sent was quite clear. Uryu Ishida has attained Shikai, but has yet to show any threatening abilities with the weapon. It takes the shape of an oddly shaped bow with six points. From your reaction I imagine this either fits or even exceeds the time table you had prepared. I would very much like to know what you base your expectations on. In all the vast history of soul society no quincy has ever become a Shinigami, but the history files could have been altered, in which case only you would know what the truth is. What are you hiding, Captain Commander-sama?"

"That is none of your concern Kurotsuchi. Don't worry about such things; just continue to bring these reports straight to me. I will decide what needs to be done. Dismissed."

"Hey hey hey… From what I hear our resident Quincy has been surprising people." The two captains turned to see another in their midst. "Well if he does have Shikai we can't let him roam around out there in Rukongai any longer can we, why don't you let him join a squad, say why not mine?"

Kurotsuchi glared at the gaudily dressed captain. "And since when have you gained an interest in this specimen, eighth squad captain?"

Shunsui simply smiled. "A spirit of nature herself told me I should look into it, and low and behold the moment I do I find out that he's reached such a high level of skill. Coincidence?"

"Nothing but the mumblings of drunken bum. Sir, if he were to be admitted into the Gotei thirteen, it would be best that he serve in squad twelve, where I could monitor him more closely."

"From what I understood, he made the direct mandate that he would not be positioned there under any circumstance. Right, Yama-jii-san?"

"Soldiers aren't given such choices about where they will be assigned!"

"But shouldn't a soul have at least some control over the path of their life?"

"Do you so enjoy disrupting my research?!"

"SILENCE!" Yamamoto slammed his cane into the ground. "Kurotsuchi of squad twelve, Kyoraku of squad eight, you will end this argument immediately. If and when Uryu Ishida chooses to join the Gotei thirteen, the decision as to which squad he will placed in shall fall upon me and no one else."

A hell butterfly began drafting into the room, hovering near Mayuri once it reached him. Mayuri's face tensed. "You will need to make that decision quickly it seems. Nemu has completed her analysis of the level of his power, and she places him at above that of the average lieutenant. Apparently his bow can drain large amounts of reiatsu from enemies, and fire it off in concentrated bursts."

"I'll make mention again that I would be more then willing to admit him to my squad."

Mayuri glared at him once more. "Why are you so persistent? Do you have some plan hidden behind that ridiculous outfit?"

Shunsui laughed silently noting that Mayuri had no place speaking about looking ridiculous. "Well, it has something to do with the fact that I already sent someone to recruit him."

There was a momentary pause of shock. "You WHAT! How long have you known about his shikai? I'll have Nemu skinned for delaying that report!"

"Calm down Kurotsuchi, I was not aware of it until I entered this room. I sent Nanao-chan on a whim to see if he was willing to enter the squad. If I have overstepped my bounds then I'm sorry, Yama-jii-san."

"Hmmmmmm…" Yamamoto pondered for a moment. "Kyoraku, if he accepts your lieutenant's offer, then he will be made part of your squad."

Mayuri spun to face the old man. "Sir!! I must protest this rash decision!!"

"My mind is made. Now leave my sights, Kyoraku. Kurotsuchi and I have further matters to discuss, and unlike before I will not allow you to meddle your way in."

Kyoraku bowed and exited the room without protest. When his reiatsu was sufficiently far enough away, Yamamoto signaled for Mayuri to continue. "Yes, I think you should have a conversation with Urahara about his hobby of making soul reapers for fun. A few hours ago five Shinigami appeared in Karakura town, seemingly out of thin air. They started out insignificant, but after relocating temporarily to Urahara's location, there reiatsu signature immediately shot up."

"I see."

* * *

"Another one? One of you guys apologizes and suddenly my house becomes a tourist attraction for Shinigami. Yeah well what the hell do you want?"

Nanao bowed before Kukaku. "Forgive the intrusion, I came here to see Uryu Ishida. I was under the impression that he was staying here."

"Wait another one of you for the kid? Boy is he popular with the ladies all of a sudden. HEY!! URYU!!! YOU HAVE ANOTHER GUEST!!! ONE MORE AND YOU ARE OUT OF HERE!!!"

Uryu came walking onto the deck. "uh…Nanao Ise, right?"

She nodded. "I'm amazed you remembered my name. Anyway I'm here on business. Captain Kyoraku wants to know if you're ready to…"

He cut her off. "Yes. More then ready actually."

"oh, well that was easy. I will relay the message immediately. But wait, why'd you change your mind?"

"You mean, the report hasn't reached you yet? Then again, you were pretty fast in getting here. So wait, if you didn't know about my shikai why did you come?"

Nanao gaped. "What do you mean shikai? No one could get it so quickly!"

Nemu suddenly made her presence known. "He does. I've seen it and confirmed it. The report was sent out as soon as it happened."

Uryu shifted forward a bit to emphasize his presence. "You didn't answer me, why are you here when you didn't know about my shikai?"

Nanao shrugged. "My captain mumbled something about crows and the force of nature then told me to come recruit you."

One word stuck in Ishida's mind. Crows.

* * *

"Ahhhhh!! Kurosaki-san, Inoue-san!! Hello and welcome. Did you two happen to see my guests as they were leaving?" Urahara fanned himself while saying these things in his sing song voice.

Ichigo wasn't going to take it. "Yeah we saw them. You mind telling me who exactly they are and what time period they're from?"

Keigo blinked at him. "Time period, what are you talking about Ichigo?"

"Come on, these guys know nothing about Aizen, claim to have been soul reapers for a long time, and are captain level but I've never met them, the only thing that makes sense is some kind of time travel or seal or something."

Keigo thought about it for a moment. "OHHH that's what they were talking about with all that time distortion stuff."

Ichigo clenched his fist. "Wait you already heard about that?"

Tatsuki sighed. "Well of course we did, Keigo's just too stupid to get it all immediately."

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah I guess that's true." He ignored Keigo's mortification and sat down. "Well spill it hat and clogs. Who the hell were those people?"

Urahara lowered his fan and his voice deepened. "I honestly don't know. I'll be contacting soul society later on in order to get some info. Until then I'm advising all of you, and want one of you to pass it on to Sado. Don't go near them. If they start to cause trouble, myself and Kurosaki will handle it. But the rest of you, stay low. Please do not get involved."

Tatsuki shot up. "Wait how come just the two of you?!" A wave of reiatsu passed out of the store owner, so heavy that Tatsuki was thrown back onto her behind and her classmates were visibly exausted from just feeling it.

After his demonstration he looked over at her. "I can guarantee that if any of those six choose to fight you, they could do the same and worse."

"Hopefully it won't come to that." Everyone glanced at Orihime who had said this. "Well, they told us outside that, well their leader said that he would defeat Aizen, doesn't that make them friends?"

Urahara nodded. "Hopefully, but you can never be too careful."

* * *

"It's ready sir, we've started broadcasting, we just need the other side to open up a channel."

The kido specialists walked away and left the room, leaving Yamamoto with the large organically framed screen. He waited for several minutes before finally an image appeared. "Whew, am I lucky someone called this thing, I would never have found it if you hadn't, hey who is there?! Oh wait I need to twist that, plug that in there, ok let me see. Ah Yamamoto-san, what an honor to receive a call from you! What can I do for you?"

Shrugging off the former captain's childish behavior, Yamamoto began his questioning. "I have a question for you, Urahara. Tell me why five unidentified Shinigami reiatsu signatures have materialized in Karakura town."

Urahara smiled into his hand held spiritual communicator. "Actually that was a demand, and it's one I cannot answer. In fact I was rather hoping you could. For the record, there actually six of them, but one has such unheard of control of his own reiatsu that I, well I guess your sensors can't pick him up either. Yamamoto?" Through the imaging aspects of the communicator, Kisuke could clearly see the captain commander's hands trembling on his cane. "I see, so you do know such a thing. Then tell me if the name matches with your recollection. Kaku."

Yamamoto could no longer control his breathing. It was accelerated and his heart had begun to pound away with the breaths as well. "Tell…Tell me the names of the others…"

Urahara closed his eyes. "Mai, Seijin, Suba, Ayame, and Sozo…"

"Menboku…" Yamamoto's head dropped. Shortly after that his whole body followed, and he took to a sitting position on the floor.

Urahara watched the old man's reaction with interest. "From your reaction, you have crossed paths before."

Yamamoto's eyes slowly opened, drowning out the images of his memories with what his eyes could see in the here and now. "Urahara, your power is well known. If you are given a chance, any chance at all, you must take it. You must kill Sozo Menboku."

Urahara digested the comment stoically. "Can I ask you why?"

"He's a murderer. A traitor of standing equal to Aizen Sosuke."

"Hmmmmmm…How odd, he puts on quite the opposite image. He's even taken on an oath to destroy Aizen."

"It's likely that he means it completely, but he is a deranged individual. In this instance, the enemy of our enemy, is not our friend. Kill him Urahara, before the atrocities begin once more."

"As you wish."

"One last thing. Do not, under any circumstances allow yourself or Kurosaki to use Bankai. If you do, there will be no victory waiting for you."

Urahara paused. "I see…" There was a click and hum when the machine turned off.

* * *

A/N: Well, shit + Fan, you do the math. 


	10. The Enemy

A/N: Stuff is picking up now eh?

Reviews:

Swift: I've always thought Uryu was pretty cool, but that's just me. Anyway that does sound like a cruddy story. And from your other comment you like him too.

Hwon: I'm amazed you can even imagine that fight without knowing how Sozo can fight, not that you won't know ofr much longer though. As for Chad, I've not forgotten him, he's just not the type to but into the dialogue y'know?

Raven: Sozo does indeed have an odd power, which will be hinted at in this chap. Mai, I'd watch out for her if I were you. And Kaku is indeed dangerous, I mean c'mon the guy's invisible to everything except the naked eye. You know something's going on there.

* * *

Chapter 10: The Enemy

The two of them stretched. "Done at last!!! Wooohoooo!!!"

"Calm down we still have 3 hours left.!"

"Three more hours will be nothing!"

"Umm excuse me! You two need to stop slacking and clean this area over here."

Renji sighed. "Yeah yeah we'll get to it."

"If you don't get moving I'll have to tell Unohana-sama and then you'll get another week tacked on!"

Both Renji and Rukia were immediately at attention and moving. "We're moving!"

They were stopped, halted in place by a young man no taller then Rukia and with hair color to match. "What do you say to me?"

The two of them sighed. "Right away…Hanatoro-dono…" Their disgust was palpable to everyone except the brimming seventh seat of squad four.

Rukia and Renji had been temporarily placed into a squad four cleaning patrol as part of their punishment for entering Hueco Mundo without authorization. To their further dismay they had been placed under none other then Hanataro Yamada, who took glee in his ability to finally wrangle respect from someone under the constant threat of an extended sentence.

After a few more hours of washing the sewers clean of filth that would surely reappear moments later, the three of them were off duty for the day, and Rukia and Renji were glad that their internship had come to an end. "Thank you so much for all the help, Abarai-san, Rukia-san. I've never gotten so much cleaned before! I guess a little help does pay off!"

"That's something that I was wondering about Hanataro, aren't you the leader of a unit as the seventh seated officer? Where are they? Shouldn't they be helping us?" Renji threw his broom down before saying this, and looked over at the much shorter Shinigami.

Hanataro wrung his hands before scratching the back of his head as he said "Well, they are supposed to, but they never do. Despite my superior medical abilities, they're all much better in combat then I am so they beat me up whenever I try and get them to do anything unless Unohana-sama or Kotetsu-dono are nearby."

Rukia shook her head. "You really shouldn't put up with that sort of thing Hanataro. It's not right. Couldn't they just assign some weaker but more medically oriented Shinigami to your squad?"

Hanataro shook his head. "The people under me are the entire division's weakest fighters, right above me. To be honest I can't even fight at the level of an academy undergraduate."

Rukia and Renji both went slack jawed. Renji immediately went over and grabbed his head. "Well the you should ask for help, like lessons." He released Hanataro's head and put a hand to his chin. "Yeah, I could teach you Zanjutsu and Rukia can help you out with Kido!"

Hanataro was almost tearing up as he heard this. "You really mean it?" Renji nodded, as did Rukia when he glanced at her. He sniffled. "Wow, you're both so nice, and after I took advantage of you like this!"

Rukia scrunched her brow. "What was that about taking advantage of us?"

Hanataro's tears were immediately dry. "Well uhhhhh, the truth is none of us in the fourth squad had the authority to extend your sentence. Ehehehehe…"

They glared at him, and in unison: "LESSONS CANCELED!!!!"

* * *

"The nerve of that guy, I should grind him into dust for tricking me like that! I mean…" As Renji spouted anger towards Hanataro he and Rukia walked through Seireitei. Then they reached a crossroads. Squad 6 barracks were right. Squad 13 barracks were left.

Rukia started off towards the left. "I'll see you around, Renji."

"Right Rukia. Hey the fights aren't done yet. I'm sure we'll have plenty of chances to keep working together. You know Ichigo's got no chance without our help."

"I know." She kept on walking.

Renji sighed and watched her go. "You really should just admit your endless love for her."

Renji froze. But then he relaxed. "Yeah, right after you and Yumichika hook up."

Ikkaku's head poked over the roof tops. "What the hell are you insinuating!!!"

"I don't meddle in your relationships so don't bother me about mine."

* * *

Shortly after Rukia had wandered away from Renji she saw something very familiar. Two things to be precise. To make sure she ran forward, until there was no doubt in her mind. "Ishida!"

The black haired and bespectacled person turned their head and adjusted their glasses. "Oh hello there, Kuchiki-san."

Rukia looked back and forth between them. _'Wow, these two are really similar.'_ She thought this because both Nanao and Uryu had greeted her in an identical fashion. Her eyes finally focused on Uryu. "Ishida what are you doing here?"

Ishida turned away from her to look around. "I died, this is where people come when that happens correct?"

Rukia growled with frustration. "You know damn well what I mean! Why are you in Seireitei? I had heard you refused to join the Shinigami and were going to stay in Rukongai."

"Well that's not exactly right, I just wasn't interested in going through your academy, so I trained independently." He shifted the load in his arms.

Rukia finally noticed that though he was dressed as a commoner of Rukongai he was holding a shihakusho. "So you're done already? And they've accepted you into a squad?!"

Ishida nodded. "3rd seat of squad 8. Although…"

Nanao sighed. "I told you already if you keep telling people you're stronger then I am I will give you my position, and then you can be his assistant. It would be freedom for me…"

"Anyway…" Ishida changed the subject. "I refuse to put this thing on until I've made some modifications to it. It's too loose, so it doesn't serve my combat style well."

"Enough chatting, the old man wants to see you immediately to give you an evaluation. I'd like to be on time." Nanao started tapping her foot.

Uryu nodded. "Right. I'll see you around, Kuchiki-san."

"Oh wait one more thing." Nanao started rummaging around her shihakusho, eventually pulling out what looked like a very small frog with one eye very large and the other small and closed. "Yachiru-chan has ordered that you are to get a picture of what Byakuya-sama's undergarments look like." Rukia blinked at her. "I'd like to say this was a joke, but she threatened to sick her captain on us if we don't take her completely serious."

Rukia took the camera with trembling hands. "Were those her exact orders?"

Nanao sighed. "Actually se used the words panties several more times then I am comfortable with, and I didn't feel that it was necessary. Just do it please, I feel like keeping my head through the next meeting."

Rukia began walking away, fumbling with the device as she went. Ishida watched her go, then without turning to face her asked Nanao "What was that all about?"

Nanao turned and started walking. "Official Shinigami women's association business. Mention that conversation to anyone and Yachiru-chan will likely have Zaraki-sama kill you in your sleep."

Ishida didn't feel any need to question any further.

* * *

The six sat in a circle. Seijin was the first to speak. "Tell me, Menboku-sama, do you believe that Urahara man for an instant?"

Sozo took a deep breath. "Unfortunately no. Though it is true that we cannot go to soul society without an open senkaimon on the other side, if he indeed has the power to force one to manifest, it would be ludicrous to believe that he could not simply contact them in some other manner."

Kaku raised his head. "So, either he cannot return us to soul society as he promised, or he can, but is contacting them first in order to learn about us."

Mai stopped fiddling with her harp. "So, what do you think they will tell him?"

Sozo turned once more to Kaku. "From the information I've been able to gather, it would seem it has been about two millennia since our imprisonment."

Ayame tensed. "How can you be sure?"

"I found an establishment known as a library. Within it were a large number of books, which contain vast amounts of information, in both written and visual form. The written language has changed considerably, but I was able to discern from the illustrations and the context within the writing that some vast amount of time has passed, close to or even surpassing two thousand years.

Seijin crossed his arms. "Perhaps such a vast amount of time has erased us from the history of soul society. In which case, we should be welcomed as allies against the traitor, Aizen."

Mai began to play a simple tune. "But, if they haven't forgotten us, what will they think of us?"

Sozo sighed. "No doubt, as murderers and evils."

"Mai is the only one among us that could be considered a murderer…"

As Seijin said this, Mai strong a bad chord and her finger started to bleed. "Shut up Seijin. What about Sozo?"

Sozo turned, but before he could speak Ayame burst out. "How dare you. Menboku-sama is not a murderer. He is a blessing from…"

"That is quite enough, Ayame. Thank you for defending me." He reached out and held her hand tightly. "Try to remember. I never want you to lose your fire, only for you to control it."

She nodded. Then bowed. Seijin stood, casting an enormous shadow over the gathering. "Enough, Urahara-san is our only lead."

Sozo also stood. "Yes, and today is the day he promised to have the gate open. We should definitely go speak with him. No, I'll speak with him myself. And maybe, I'll be forced to unleash you, Sutegoueru."

* * *

"So you really want to do this on your own? What are you stupid or something?"

"Such harsh words from such a beautiful woman. But I would endure them if it meant more opportunities to look at your tantalizing form!"

Yoruichi scoffed and deftly grabbed Urahara's fan away from him. She then just as deftly snapped it in two.

Urahara began crying up a storm. "HOW COULD YOUUUUU THAT WAS MY FAVORITE FAN!!!"

Still unwilling to put up with his nonsense, she punched him square in the face. She then picked him up by his shirt and stared right into his face. "This isn't time for your jokes and games Kisuke!! Why do you want to fight them alone so badly!!?"

Kisuke sighed. "In all my years serving under him I only saw Yamamoto looking that terrified right after I told him about my Gigai. Whatever this Sozo Menboku can do, it isn't normal. Why else would I be instructed to avoid using my bankai above all else? And that's precisely why I need to fight him alone. I need you to keep Orihime, Ichigo, Sado, Keigo, Mizuiro and Tatsuki away while it's happening." She finally let go of him so he sat up on his own. "None of them, especially Kurosaki have the patience to battle an opponent like this one needs to be. And if we told him not to use his Bankai, I could see him looking right at me and yelling something like 'like hell!!' or something."

She couldn't help but laugh at his poor imitation of Ichigo. She topped when she began to sense the coming of five powerful reiatsus. "They're coming."

"They sure are. That's your sign to get going." She gave him the eye. "Don't worry I'll be fine!" _'really, how tough could he be…'

* * *

_

"Sorry, only one of you is allowed to go in right now."

Sozo tilted his head. "Excuse me?"

"Kisuke wants to talk with your leader before he sends you guys over to Seireitei. There's just something that's needs clarification, that's all."

Sozo looked up with curiosity at the dark skinned female that was addressing him. He looked down and smiled. "So, he intends to kill me after all." Her body tensed, confirming his assumptions. "Very well then. Kaku, you are in charge while I am gone. Fighting will be a last resort only."

Kaku nodded. "Of course sir."

Then without hesitation, Sozo walked into the shop.

* * *

"This is so stupid." Kon groaned. The catapult had been surprisingly easy to drag around, and he had seen surprisingly few people along the back streets he had taken to get here. Then he just had to line the thing up, hop in, and hit the lever. _'The flying part isn't so bad, pretty nice actually!! Why didn't I want to do this!!" _Quite suddenly his plush body smacked against a hard glass window. _'oh yeah, that's why…'_

His impact did not go unnoticed. Ichigo, Orihime and Chad instantly recognized the plushy and wondered what the hell he was doing. After a second or so of being plastered to the window Kon dropped off and plummeted back to the ground. While the students around them began muttering something about how it must have been a lame prank, Ichigo stood up. "Hey Sensei! Can I be released from class please! I have to go!"

The teacher slammed her fist down. "Everybody sit down and shut up! You too Ichigo, you can hold it till lunch. "

Ichigo growled and sat back down. He wasn't listening t the teacher though, and running out _again_ would be bad idea. He suddenly had a stroke of inspiration while sitting there. Ichigo reached into his pocket and gripped his talisman. As his Shinigami self came out, his body hunched forward, looking like it had fallen asleep. Of course the teacher started yelling immediately, but Ichigo, now invisible, rushed out of the classroom and to the nearest fire alarm.

With the school bells ringing and ringing and the entire building emptying Ichigo and co was easily able to slip out after picking up Kon.

Once they were a good enough distance away Ichigo held up the toy and shook it. "There better be a good reason I just set off a false alarm. Get talking Kon!"

"Geez you don't have to yell at me!! And put me down I refuse to be demeaned like this!!! What about basic human rights!!"

"You aren't human!!"

"How can you say that about me I thought we were friends…"

While Ichigo and Kon continued to verbally abuse each other the other five looked on. Tatsuki's eyebrow was twitching. "So, the stuffed animal can talk. Now I've seen everything."

Keigo was simply flabbergasted. "Man, Ichigo sure has some weird friends huh?"

Eventually Chad stepped forward and removed Kon from Ichigo's grasp to place him on the ground. Orihime also knealt down in front of him. "Why did you launch yourself up like that, Kon-san?"

Kon dusted himself off. "Well, I guess I can't ignore a question from someone as beautiful as you Orihime-chan. Urahara and Yoruichi sent me to give you guys a message. He said 'don't come anywhere near the store today, we are renovating and the whole place is ruined'"

Ichigo scratched his head. "That's it, what a bogus load of…" He stopped, as he could suddenly sense a massive wave of reiatsu. Even with his dull senses he could tell it was Urahara, fighting. Ichigo grabbed his talisman again and leapt out of his body. "Everyone, go to Orihime's house and take my body. Stay there until I come to get you. Mizuiro!! Go!!"

Kon started flailing. "What are you talking about he just told you to stay away from the shop didn't he!!"

Ichigo looked right at the plushy. "Like hell I will! Now you go too!"

Ichigo took off, while Mizuiro opened a portal and Keigo and Tatsuki started hefting Ichigo's body with Kon riding it through. Orihime was about to go through, but she stopped and shook her head. She turned and looked at Chad, who just nodded. Mizuiro called for her to come through. "Ichigo is going to need our help, so we'll go on ahead. But we want all of you to stay there ok!"

After that Chad grabbed the edges of the portal and shattered it using his reiatsu. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

Kisuke was not there to greet him, but a whole had been opened in the floor, revealing a massive chamber beneath it. He leapt in, and at the bottom he saw Urahara standing there, sword already drawn. "Can I at least ask? Why are you going to try and kill me?"

Urahara shook his head. "I'm not really good at trying things, I just end up doing them. As for why, well, the old man said you really need to be killed. While some might believe he's wronged me in the past, I still trust him a lot. So when the old man says someone really needs to die, I'm not really one to question it to much."

"Old man? Who are you really, and who is this giving orders to you?"

Urahara raised his head slightly , fully revealing his eyes to his guest. "I am Kisuke Urahara, former captain of squad 12 and founder as well as first generation chief of the institute for research and development. I don't take orders, but Captain Commander Yamamoto has been known to give me advice every now and then. Huh?" Sozo's eyes were bulging at something.

"Captain commander, _Shigekuni _Yamamoto?" Urahara's mild surprise was still visible to Sozo. "heh…heheh…I see…If that is the case, then Soul society is beyond peace. I will have to take it by force once more." He drew the sword of his that had the western style guard. "Take that which is rightfully yours, _Sutegoueru!"

* * *

_

A/N: yay for action?


	11. Powers

A/N: Wow, two chaps in two days. I had time and the will to do it, and besides, I've been dieing to reveal some of this stuff so here it is.

Reviews:

Swift: will do/did.

Raven: Part of the reason I choose the "no bankai" thing was because I didn't know a lot of bankais. With that in mind I tried creating a villain they literally couldn't use that power against, and so Sozo Menboku was born. Anyway that all gets explained here a little on.

* * *

Chapter 11: Powers

The blade extended out longer, but more interestingly it widened, engulfing the cross guard in both directions. It also grew downward in the front, forming an extension of the blade in front of Sozo's hand. Once the tip had reached it's full length it flattened across the widened blade, become a straight blade perpendicular to the forward edge. Finished elongating, several wholes, in seemingly random positions appeared in the blade. Once there were 20 total, they stopped appearing.

Urahara sighed. "Awaken, Benihime." Benihime formed in Urahara's hand and he pointed it at Sozo. _'right, so lets see what this guy can do…'_ Sozo shunpo'd and swung his sword with both hands aiming for Urahara's neck. The swing was promptly blocked by the far faster Urahara. _'His reiatsu spiked as he moved, but it was only lieutenant level. Furthermore his speed indicates that his skill with shunpo is only at the average level. Is this a joke, can he really be their leader with such mediocre abilities? Is this some trap? Some effort to throw off my judgment?'_

Kisuke pushed Sozo away and began a barrage of sword attacks, throwing Sozo into the defensive. It was a poor defensive as far as Urahara could see. _'It's too predictable, all of his movements are so slow. Can he really be this weak? Something is not right. He must be waiting for me to injure him. If I want to analyze his abilities, I'll have to indulge him for now. Besides, it's not like I can kill him without hurting him.'_ By stepping up the speed just enough Urahara was easily able to put a gash through Sozo's right shoulder. Then one to the left. Then a slice across the chest.

During the slice across the chest Urahara felt his blade meet with something else metal. Something he knew instinctively to be a third sword, albeit a much smaller one. Leaping away after having wounded his opponent, Urahara surveyed the information he had so far. As he added things together he indeed saw a sheathe within Sozo's shihakusho. He pointed his sword at Sozo. _'I'm curious, what can you really do Sozo Menboku? What could strike fear into an opponent as formidable as Yamamoto? If the only way to prompt a reaction is to attack all out, then I will.' _"Sing, Benihime."

A crimson blast went flying out of the blade headed right for Sozo, but he didn't try to dodge. Instead as the blast approached he held his zanpakuto aloft and said "Take." The blast impacted with the sword and then dissipated. Urahara immediately picked up on a change in Sozo's zanpakuto, one of the twenty holes along it's length had become filled with a swirling red mote of energy. Sozo smiled and faced Urahara. He swung the sword and from it launched a crimson energy blast, identical in form, composition and strength to the one Kisuke had just unleashed.

'_No, not just identical, it's the same blast, he absorbed it and redirected it.' _Urahara shunpo'd away from the blast and observed his opponent again. _'It's impressive, but still not what I'm looking for. He's still hiding something. I'll reveal it, or kill him trying.'_ With another high speed shunpo Urahara moved in next to his opponent, and with two swift movements impaled him through the chest and gut.

With another shunpo Urahara was some distance away. "Now then. Wounded as you are now, I doubt you will be able to fight me as any kind of equal, unless you've been hiding something…"

Sozo laughed. "Why didn't you remove my head? You could have, with your speed. But you didn't. That is your weakness, Urahara, Curiosity. I noticed it the first time we met." He coughed up some blood. "Curiosity is your undoing. A wiser man would have heeded the advice of Shigekuni, and killed me instantly. That you didn't was your mistake." He reached into his shihakusho and drew out the concealed tanto. The cross guard was shaped like a flower, and the hilt weaving was green.

Urahara's instincts told him that something was about to happen, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He was suddenly filled with the dread, that he would soon be facing two opponents.

* * *

Ichigo stopped. Yoruichi was standing in his way. "Hold it Ichigo. I guess you know by now right?"

Ichigo scoffed. "Which part?"

She turned to face him. "Kisuke is fighting Sozo Menboku. And…I think he needs our help." That last part caught him. "I'm thankful that you came. But before you go, I have to pass along the warning I was given. Once we reach the store, you are forbidden from using bankai."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"It was the warning given to Kisuke by Yamamoto, who has apparently faced this foe before. He was told that if he used Bankai, victory could not be achieved. I want your help here Ichigo, but I need your word. No bankai."

Ichigo looked down. "Fine then." He then heard a noise behind him and spun, only to see his comrades running after him. "Inoue? Chad? I thought I told you to go to…"

"Did you really think we'd listen?" Chad's deep voice rang out. "We've followed you to far worse places, then Urahara-san's basement."

Ichigo nodded, then turned to Orihime. "Don't worry about me Kurosaki-san I won't try to fight I'll just heal anyone who gets injured that's all. Really I swear!"

Yoruichi jumped down. "We don't have time to be wasting like this. If they want to come then so be it. But the two of you can't use shunpo to get there so…Ichigo grab Chad, I'll take Orihime."

Orihime opened her eyes wide. "um, so that's how we're going? Ok…I guess."

"Don't worry about a thing, your much lighter then Ichigo, and I was able to carry him easily." She grabbed Orihime's arm and they vanished.

Orihime landed a bit dizzy, but quickly recognized the area nearby the Urahara shop. Shortly after that Ichigo and Chad appeared practically out of nowhere. And Ichigo drew his word. "They'll know that we're coming."

Without word Yoruichi leapt up to the top of one of the nearby houses and started running towards the shop. Ichigo, Chad and Orihime were right on her tail.

Their enemies were all outside the shop, seated in various places in the yard. Seijin off to the left. Kaku and Ayame on the deck. Suba on the roof with his legs dangling over. Mai right in the center with harp out and simple tune coming out of it. Kaku stood and walked forward. "We had a deal, Shihoin-san. If you try to enter this building, we will fight against you. Sozo's battle will be one on one."

Yoruichi tensed. "Then I guess, I'll just have to fight you." She shunpo'd right in front of Kaku and kicked forward. Her leg was caught by Suba with on hand. With the other he drew his zanpakuto and swung it at her. She dodged away only to be pursued very closely by her opponent. He followed her so closely in fact that at times there was barely an inch between them. He also wielded his sword in an odd fashion holding it close to his body, and spinning at high speeds while changing the angle of the blade, causing it to lash out from odd angles that were difficult to predict and quick to change. While leaping away from him and avoiding being sliced in half she realized that his blindness was not a weakness at all, but removed the one sense that would inhibit his fighting style.

He quickly moved in close again and attempted to cut her once more, only to be dodged and counterattacked. His spinning form moved so fast that her attacks were blocked by limbs that she could barely tell had moved, and then just as fast a fist slammed her to the side and sent her back a few feet, sliding through the dirt.

"Yoruichi!" Ichigo started to move forward but Mai appeared in front of him, her sword drawn and pointed at him. She shook her head. "That wouldn't be fair. If you want to fight to, it will be with me."

Ichigo smiled a bit. "Man, you guys sound just like those guys from squad 11. Alright fine! If you want a one on one fight that you've got one!" He drew Zangetsu and pointed it forward, then withdrew it. _'damn that's right. These guys are tough, how are we supposed to fight them without using bankai?'_

"You there, Kurosaki. Just then, your reiatsu started to change, but you halted the process. You were going to unleash bankai but stopped yourself, didn't you?" Ichigo looked over the shoulder of the woman, staring into the eyes of Kaku. Kaku stood and put his hands behind his back. "You can clearly sense that we are captain level opponents, and I can clearly sense that your reiatsu is even a step above that. So, basically, most of the people here are capable of bankai. But as you just demonstrated, it would most unwise to use it. The same is true for us. So do not fear that we will overpower you. Suba, Mai, Seijin, Ayame, my orders are simple, these battle are only to protect Menboku-sama's concentration, as such, malicious intent shall not be allowed. You may fight them, but you will not kill your opponents, nor any other humans that may appear in the vicinity."

Ichigo tried to absorb the information they were being given, and the rules he had set up. Then Mai rushed forward and met her blade with Ichigo's. "You here that Kawaii-kun, I'm not allowed to kill you, too bad because like I said you are so cute." Ichigo was so confused that she was momentarily able to over power him and send away a few feet, before charging again and clashing swords with him.

Chad began to walk forward and to the left Seijin began to stand. Yoruichi and Suba had taken to battling on roof tops and in the air, so the yard was once again mostly empty. Seijin moved forward and stared into the eyes of the teenager. "I see. Then it is you whom I must fight." Chad let out a low rumbling hmm as response.

Orihime, the last person, simply stood, glancing back and forth between her comrades and their enemies. Suddenly her field of vision was filled by a person that was very close to her. "That means I have to fight you!" Ayame swung her sword down towards Orihime, who was paralyzed by fear. A clang and her continued consciousness told her something had saved her. Her mind told her it was Ichigo, but when she opened her eyes, she saw something very different.

Kaku had drawn his sword and defended Orihime. "Ayame, sit down. I can not allow the wife of my lord to be put in dangerous combat unless it was a last resort. I will take Inoue-san as my opponent."

She drew back her blade but was obviously disappointed. "But…!"

"Ayame, remember, I was put in charge. And order from me is no different then an order from Menboku-sama himself at this moment." She shook with rage for a moment before leaping away and taking her place on the deck of the store. Then Kaku turned back to Orihime. "You are effectively my enemy now, however, I am willing to make you a deal. If you do not attack me, or attempt to give aid to your allies, then I will not attack you, and I will explain to you the vision of Sozo Menboku."

She thought about it for a moment, and seeing no alternative nodded. At that moment she felt a massive reiatsu form deep underground. It's structure was odd, almost as if it were two people at once, but still coming from one body. Then it burst again, becoming as three people at once. She could tell then that it wasn't Urahara's reiatsu that exploded, but it was the other source, and now it was much larger then before, perhaps even larger then Urahara's.

The others noticed it as well. Mai even looked to her feet and said "Wow, that shopkeeper must have been pretty tough to drive Sozo that far."

Ichigo's sword clashed against hers once more. "What do you mean? What the hell was that?!"

She laughed and smiled. "I'll show you. Push the world away, Jubatsu!!" The sword she had been using suddenly shrank down to the size of a small dagger. More importantly her reiatsu shot up. Normally that would be expected when a Shinigami releases their zanpakuto, however it felt odd to Ichigo, he could swear something felt wrong about her reiatsu, and it was the same odd feeling he was getting from underground. She rushed forward with her tiny weapon as if to stab him, so Ichigo blocked with his sword held sideways.

With sickening momentum Ichigo was thrown backwards, his sword punched into his chest with horrendous force. He impacted on the wall of the nearby building and it shattered behind him. She started laughing and held the weapon in an overtly dainty manner.

Seijin simply stared into Chad's equally unmoving eyes through the entire explosion of reiatsu. "You are strong. I can tell." He raised his hands, gripped them together and slammed them down onto Chad. Chad blocked it with one hand, despite his feet sinking inches into the ground from the force. Chad then pushed the arms back up and moved forward to punch Seijin's gut. Seijin brought one hand back down and blocked the blow, despite being pushed back a bit. "Indeed, strong."

* * *

Sozo drew the tanto and looked at it. "Care for the progeny, Koutaigou." He slammed the tanto into the center of his chest, wincing as he did so.

Urahara felt his reiatsu skyrocket, and watched in equal surprise as his wounds began to seal themselves completely. Then he noticed that the hilt of the tanto had disappeared, but a metallic flower was now blooming from his chest. _'That…That is another zanpakuto…but that is impossible…'_

Sozo smiled. "That was a good start, but I think you wanted to see more right?" With his left hand he drew katana from his side and held it forward. "Touch, Yomitomoi" This third zanpakuto shined blue and the blade became wider towards he tip, but it retained the over all shape of a katana. Along with the second sword Sozo's reiatsu leapt up again, bringing it even closer to Urahara's.

Urahara's mind strained to understand how such a thing was possible, and he only came to one solution ludicrous as it sounded. _'He must have some ability to take the zanpakuto of enemies who use bankai against him. And each one also enhances his reiatsu. I'll need to end this…'_ Urahara's train of thought was interrupted by the disappearance of his enemy. HE spun and raised Benihime to block the strike of Sutegoueru. _'Quick!'_ Locked in a battle with the one blade, Urahara was unable to block the attack from the blue zanpakuto, Yomitomoi, so he moved to the side and received instead a small gash on his arm.

Despite the relative mildness of the wound, Sozo immediately shouted "Victory!" after landing the blow. Unwilling to accept that, Urahara charged once again.

* * *

Her friends continued to fight, while she was being asked to sit down. A part of her told her what she was doing was wrong. But another part, perhaps her instincts told her that if she provoked this man, he could seriously injure her and her friends. So she sat down, ready to listen.

Kaku also sat, placing his sheathed zanpakuto in his lap. "First, in all likelihood, Sozo will not deal a killing blow to Urahara, and my order here on the surface stands, so none of you are in real danger. AS for soul society…they attacked first, and I intend to advise Sozo to go there regardless, and attempt to present his case before central 46, in the hopes of becoming their allies once more."

"Aizen has already killed central 46, Soul society is under the command of the head captain, Yamamoto."

"Shigekuni? Shigekuni Yamamoto?" Orihime nodded. Kaku sighed. "Amazing that he has lived so long. And if he is indeed in charge, our case will be much more difficult to make."

"Your case?"

Kaku nodded. "The obliteration and conquering of Hueco Mundo. That is our purpose. But there were those among the Shinigami that took our cause as evil. Most I imagine were simply afraid of the power that is wielded by Sozo Menboku."

"His power?"

Kaku nodded. "Any being who reveals its true power to Sutegoueru, is taken by it. There is no hope to resist it. There is no way to stop it. Friend, foe, any being that unleashes itself against Sozo Menboku and his sword is devoured and transformed into power wielded by Sozo Menboku himself. That is the power of his Bankai, Kaito Sutegoueru. He has acknowledged regret for some of the people that have been taken by it. But he refuses to let the blade die, it's power is too efficient for killing our true foes, the hollows and Arrancar. We who serve him respect his dream, or fear his strength, either way we are bound to his goals. A day when no soul is threatened by a shadowy monster with a white mask."

Orihime envisioned Ichigo's vaizard form for a split second as he finished his speech. Then she also remembered Nell, who had sacrificed herself for them. "Not all hollows, are so bad…"

Kaku's face did not move in the slightest, but she could see something in his eyes. Something akin to mixed understanding, and self loathing.

* * *

A/N: nifty, huh? 


	12. Hunger

A/N: Hello. Been a while hasn't it. Sorry but I got rock band, and discovered that drums are really fun. Anyway I've decided to include translations for the names of zanpakuto and techniques that I make up from here on out, and here's the ones that I've already done: Karasotou Crow thief, Sutegoueru Abandoned Child Starving, Juubatsu object of punishment, Koutaigou Queen Mother, Yomitomoi Reader of the heart. Future translations will happen _(like this)_.

Reviews:

Demon: Yay a new reader, hope the long wait didn't turn you off.

Hwon: Anko, no, but I can see the similarities. Give Mai a little time she has an odd streak that hasn't been fully explored yet. And you haven't even seen the Chad fight.

Raven: Well, I'm sure it's not an original idea, but the execution and bankai of that weapon (that is _his_ zanpakuto you're talking about.) make it unique I hope. There are a few more kinks in Sutegoueru that haven't been explored yet, but will be. I mean just look at the translation up above.

* * *

Chapter 12: Hunger

'_How?'_ Blocked. Blocked. Blocked. _'How? Even if I accept that he can possess multiple zanpakuto, and that each one's activation boosts his reiatsu, I should still be faster then him.' _Blocked. _'So how is he blocking every single attack like this!?'_

Sozo didn't even need to turn to look to block an attack from behind. When he did he merely frustrated Urahara further, displaying the ability to block the rapid sword strikes with his eyes closed.

'_HOW!'_

"Don't yell so loudly. The answer's on the tip of your tongue you know…"

Urahara stumbled for a moment. _'No…'_

Sozo smiled. "Yes…As I told you, victory is mine."

* * *

Ichigo attacked, but the agile Mai blocked, uninhibited by the diminutive range of her weapon. As soon as the swords collided Ichigo was hurled back. "Boring!" Mai leapt up, intending to stab Ichigo.

He saw that and quickly adjusted with precise timing he caught her arm with his own and his body. He couldn't miss the opportunity so he quickly slammed his sword on her shoulder hard while releasing her, sending her flying back down to the earth.

She landed on her feet and observed her bruised shoulder. "The back? Why not cut off my arm?"

Still hovering above on the air Ichigo shouldered Zangetsu. "Your guy said you wouldn't kill us. Only felt right to return the favor. Now why don't you start explaining yourself! Geh!"

She had appeared in front of him using shunpo and kicked him across the face. "Don't be stupid. This is a fight, who cares if we've been ordered not to kill you. If your going to make such sloppy non-lethal attacks I'm not even going to try and block them, just like that last one. You on the other hand, if your going to think I'm not trying, you'll end up dead by accident."

Ichigo rubbed the sore spot on his face. "Alright then, if that's how you feel." He lifted Zangetsu up, and channeled his reiatsu into it. Mai watched as he reared back for a swing. "Getsuga Tensho!" Her eyes widened when she saw the massive energy wave flying towards her.

* * *

Chad and Seijin hadn't moved much, or even caused any real harm to each other. They just went back and forth with shows of raw strength. Eventually they paused. "Your strength is unique for a human. I don't know where it comes from, but it is great. Still, we were told to disable you, so I really don't have a choice in this matter. If you were just a bit stronger this might not hurt so much." He began to reach for one of his swords.

"Don't worry about me. I can be stronger. But…if no one is in danger, why use such strength?"

Seijin stopped his reaching. "I see, so you fancy yourself a guardian. An honorable position to take, but I have long since realized its futility. Protecting one life always means destroying another."

"I don't believe that."

"So you've never destroyed hollows?" Chad didn't respond. "I don't blame you. In fact I commend you. Hollows deserve to be destroyed. To that end, I must protect Menboku-sama. Crush the unrepentant, Yamabushi (_Mountain priest)_!" He drew the more massive of his swords and plunged it into the ground. When he drew it from the earth it was encased in rock, transformed into an enormous stone club. Without hesitation he swung it like a bat towards Chad.

The teenager braced himself, but couldn't even offer token resistance against the weapon. It sent him flying into the air in a sickening spiral, ending with a crash into a nearby building. Quickly standing up after the flight, Chad examined his surroundings, and could already see his opponent approaching. Without hesitation he reached out his arm and it became coated with the black and red pattern of his power. With a roar of strength he punched the air in front of him and let out a massive blast.

Seijin, flying on the air was able to dodge it, despite being surprised at the development. After recapturing Chad in his gaze he noticed that the young man was much closer. He raised his club and defended against the punch, but the force still sent him back quite a ways. As Chad landed on another roof Seijin flew towards him and attempted to smash him, but Chad simply thrust his armored arm upwards and knocked the weapon away. With Seijin's defense gone Chad rushed forward and planted his fist into the Shinigami's chest.

Seijin stumbled backwards and gripped the place that had been hit. After a few deep breaths he was calm again. "You are strong indeed." Gripping the club with both hands Seijin channeled his reiatsu into it, and it began to grow until it was nearly as large as the giant man himself. He then lifted it and swung it again crashing it into Chad. Chad slid several feet, but was not lifted off the ground or knocked to it. Instead he was now pushing up against the club with his right arm of the giant, holding it back from dealing a real blow.

Chad began to notice something though. Underneath his shirt the Left arm was already starting to form, without his will. What worried him more though was that he felt like his right arm was getting stronger, as if absorbing strength from being in contact with the club.

Seijin also noticed this and pulled his weapon back hastily. He caught a glimpse of the palm of Chad's right arm having momentarily developed a white patch that had vanished now. "What are you really? No human has powers like yours. And that arm, it reeks of hollow."

Chad was only barely listening, he was paying more attention to his arm. _'I left Urahara-san's medicine in my backpack by the shop. If something starts to go wrong, I really should have it. The air, it's so heavy from all the fighting…Is that what's triggering my arms? If it is, I'll need to do this fast, and get back there just in case.'_

Seijin saw the worried look on his face, and the stare pointed at his arm. "I don't fully understand, but…If you truly do share traits with the hollows, I think your death would be justified."

Chad exited from his thoughts and looked at his enemy. "I'm sorry to hear that. I just…can't die yet."

Seijin smirked. And then he began to draw his second sword. "You don't have a choice."

Chad punched forward and a large blast shot forward, interrupting Seijin's draw and forcing him to move. When the smoke cleared both of Chad's arms were coated in armor. Seijin once again reached for his second sword but Chad rushed forward and grabbed his arm before he could finish the motion. "You really seem to want to draw that. I guess my chances of winning are much better if you don't. So I don't really want you to." Seijin swung his right arm close to his body, bringing the club in arc right towards Chad. He caught it easily with his left arm and said "La muerte." The club shattered and was thrust away. While Seijin recoiled in shock, Chad released his arm and grabbed the sword from his side. He threw it away just as Seijin noticed what he was doing.

He desperately reached for his second weapon but could not get it as flew away from him. Greatly angered Seijin curled his fist and punched toward Chad but was easily blocked by Chad's shield sized arm. Noting the futility he leapt away. After landing he examined the broken base of his zanpakuto. With a flex, the earthy material began to regenerate until it reached its full size once more. He lunged forward and pushed his club directly at Chad, who caught without much effort.

Chad quickly realized that the club attack was two fold, rather then just impacting it grew upon contact, until it engulfed his arms. Seijin quickly after ward thrust the handle into the ground, into which it fused. With Chad immobilized Seijin moved over to where his second sword had landed and picked it up. "Growl, Norainu _(stray dog)_!"

* * *

"So anyone can use those swords?"

"Yes, anyone that knows the name and release commands can use the zanpakuto created when Menboku-sama's Bankai is used. The second zanpakuto wielded by Seijin, Mai, and Ayame, were all produced in this fashion. But more then just giving us the abilities of these zanpakuto, they also increase our overall reiatsu, by an amount roughly equal to one half the strength of the captain who had previously wielded the blade."

Orihime felt an enormous surge of reiatsu and spun to look towards it, but could not see the source. It was coming from near Chad though. "I don't understand, why are you telling me all of this?"

Kaku didn't show any emotion as he answered her just as coldly as he had been speaking. "You do not wish to fight, and since I am learning so much about the abilities of your friends, it is only fair that I impart upon you knowledge of our abilities." She turned to look at him again. "Kurosaki-san and Shihoin-san are clearly captain level Shinigami. Kurosaki is a zanjutsu expert with a permanent release type zanpakuto. It's ability is Getsuga Tenshou, which rapidly condenses Reiatsu in order to fire it as a blast. Shihoin-san is a Hakuda expert, focusing on immobilization and stuns. Chad on the other hand, I can't shake the feeling that I am sensing a hollow. It is likely this sense which has led Seijin to use lethal force."

Orihime shot up. "But, you said they wouldn't kill anyone!"

"That was under the belief that our opponents were humans. If one of you is in fact an Arrancar, or in another way related to hollows, we cannot allow you to survive."

"That's…" She reached up and touched her hairclips. "If you try and kill Sado-kun, I won't hesitate to fight back, even if it means you will attack me!"

"Bakudo 4, Hainawa." A golden rope formed around Orihime and began to pull her arms down, but it quickly slid off of her and disappeared. Kaku tilted his head to the side in curiosity. "Interesting, you show remarkable resistance to low level bakudo. Since restricting your movements with binding magic will not work, I will have to immobilize you through more harmful means if you do not lower your arms."

Energized by discovering a new ability, Orihime remained stalwart. "What I said stands. Promise me that you won't kill Sado-kun, or I can't stand aside."

Kaku closed his eyes. "I can only make such a promise if you can promise me that he is not a hollow."

There was a pause. Slowly, Orihime lowered her arms. Just as slowly she walked over to Chad's back pack and pulled out a bottle with a single pill within. "This. This will make sure he's a normal human. So you don't need to kill him, alright."

* * *

Chad was blown away by the pure reiatsu he was feeling. It was massive, even more then Ichigo's. It was drowning, even more then Kenpachi Zaraki's. He didn't think such reiatsu could exist. But here it was in front of him.

Seijin reveled in the power that had been imparted upon him. Norainu had taken on the form of a gauntlet. On top it had a large blade coming out forward forming a punching dagger. With the initial surge subsided, Seijin moved back to the handle of his club and grabbed it, immediately removing it from the ground. He lifted it into the air, taking Chad with it and then slammed it into the ground. The chunk with Chad on it broke off on top of Chad, but Seijin quickly retracted the club, and stepped back. "I might not be able to use Bankai because of Menboku-sama, but with Norainu, I don't need it. This zanpakuto floods it's wielder with unimaginable power. Limitless power!"

Chad stood in time to see the massive club swinging at him again. Though he raised both arms to defend against it, he was still knocked away. _'All that reiatsu he's releasing. It's so much. It's making me…No…I've got to ignore that feeling._' He took another solid hit. _'No matter what.'_ The next smash of the club he barely managed to avoid, but Seijin's speed had improved allowing him to quickly swing again and knock Chad once more. _'Have to stay in control.'_ The next attack was going to be a smash. It was coming to fast to dodge, so Chad raised his arms to block.

Chad's rigid stance made it so he wouldn't buckle at first, instead he simply cratered the ground slightly beneath his feet. Gripping the handle with both hands Seijin continued to push down, and Chad's feet dug slightly more into the dirt. "Strength alone will not slay you then, hollow creature. I will resort to desperate methods."

Chad's arms began to sink into the club. He turned his face away from it but that too was engulfed. His world became dark.

Yamabushi expanded until it had consumed Chad fully. It then began to sink into the ground, taking the encased teenager with it. Within moments all that remained was the handle, sticking out of the ground. Seijin sighed. "Shinsei Maisou _(sacred burial)_ was a bit much, it is a tiring technique. But it is very effective against such stubborn opponents. He will surely suffocate within moments."

The area around Chad was solid. He couldn't move. He couldn't see. He couldn't breathe. All he could feel was solid pressure around him. That and this hunger. The area around Chad was filled with reiatsu. The Reiatsu of that second zanpakuto. He could sense it. He could smell it. Chad's world became very dark indeed.

The ground surged. Seijin stumbled as the very Earth seemed to be boiling around him. He held the handle of Yamabushi to try and stabilize his stance. "What? What is going on!" Seijin felt a tingle in his left hand and panicked. "That's impossible! His reiatsu draining ability was rudimentary at best. Besides he should be dead by now without air. How could he be doing this!" The ground erupted throwing Seijin away. He landed on his feet and turned toward the explosion. "I see. Only one kind of creature can survive on reishi alone."

There stood before Seijin, a monster. Tall, humanoid, its entire body was covered in intricate black and red patterns. There was a motif of a rose in his chest. On both of it's arms were wide patches shaped like shields. It's knees were spiked. But it's truly unique feature was it's mask. It was rounded at the bottom, and the top had several long spikes stretching backwards and wrapping around the creatures head as hair. Its teeth were in a fixed frown. Its eyes were sad.

The beast turned to its prey. It howled. Its howl was the combination of a hollows scream and the cry of the being it had formed from, yelling in anguish.

Seijin held his club forward and reformed it with reiatsu from Norainu. _'He absorbed quite a bit of reiatsu from my weapon. I should have seen it coming, but I suppose I became too confident. If he retains his ability to absorb reiatsu from contact with my weapon…Of course he will, Which means I will need to destroy him with quick crushing attacks.'_

The beast lunged.

* * *

Suba stumbled backwards and stopped facing Yoruichi. She had just a moment earlier unleashed a furious attack ending in a solid kick to the chest. "Your too predictable. You threw me off at first with that odd fighting style, but it's clearly meant for assassination, not occupation. You can't maintain for long without going for a fatal blow can you?"

Suba didn't respond in any way. Yoruichi couldn't even tell if he had registered her words.

Annoyed by his silence, and sensing a drop in Kisuke's reiatsu, she stiffened up. "Sorry but I need to end this quickly."

Suba did respond this time. He knelt and began moving the blade of his zanpakuto threw the ground at high speed, eventually carving out two symbols. Even upside down she could read them as crack and wince. In a swift motion he stood fully up and stepped on the symbols, one for each foot.

His zanpakuto turned completely black while it reshaped, becoming longer and thinner. The cross guard became 4 upward pointed spikes. The hilt also sprouted 10 tassels, red now that color had returned to the weapon. He reached down and grabbed one of the tassels. Then ripped it off. Then disappeared.

Yoruichi froze. He had completely disappeared, not even a shred of reiatsu left to trace, but then a moment later he reappeared right in front of her. Before she could even register his movement she realized that she had already been hit. His sword was embedded in her right knee. Then he twisted it sharply, garnering a gasp that bordered on a scream from her. He ripped his sword sideways through her leg, nearly severing it and forcing her to collapse.

She could no longer stand on such a wounded appendage, and even in spiritual form she was losing copious amounts of blood. Without her legs she could not use shunpo. He had crippled her in one attack.

Content with his victory Suba sat down on the roof top and started watching her. She struggled with her leg, and began a stiff crawl back towards the Urahara shop. She was stopped short when Suba's zanpakuto was thrust into the ground in front of her. She looked up to see his face, which slowly shook from side to side.

'_He won't let me leave…Damn…Kisuke, we underestimated all of them…'

* * *

_

A/N: Things not looking good.


	13. Descent

A/N: They cut back the hours at work so I didn't have to go until way late today, and since rockband is over at my friends place and he isn't there right now, I figured I'd write up a chap.

Reviews:

Madara: Fastest review ever. As you will see shortly I went with a full out of control hollow form, the basic state where Chad's method of softness and kindness were going to get him killed so pure instinct has taken over and he has taken an appropriate form.

* * *

Chapter 13: Descent

She gritted her teeth. He sat calmly. He just laid back without a care in the world. "That's it!!! Mizuiro let's go."

Keigo sat up. "Are you deaf! Those guys will kill us if we go anywhere near that place. You just need to sit back and calm down."

Tatsuki clenched her fist. "Why the hell did we even train these powers if we aren't going to use them!! If they can fight then so can we."

Mizuiro shook his head. "That would be a bad idea, Arisawa-san. I can sense it from here those guys are on a level we're nowhere near. It's like that day when the Arrancar showed up."

"But I can't just sit here and do nothing. That other time it was ok because were protecting Orihime, but this time what are we good for?!"

Kon leapt up and hugged Tatsuki's leg. "You can protect me! Granted you don't have a big bust I've always thought you were cute!"

Tatsuki ripped the plushy off of her and threw it away. "And most of all I want to get away from that perverted stuffed animal thing! Mizuiro just get me close, I'll conceal my presence and just watch."

Mizuiro shook his head. "I ca…"

Tatsuki picked him up by his collar. "do it now or those guys aren't going to seem very frightening by comparison."

Keigo shivered at the thought of what she would do to his friend. "I think you should listen to her Mizuiro. And we should probably go too. If something does go wrong I can defend us long enough for you to get us out of there."

Mizuiro's concern was obvious. But he relented. "Alright. But I won't land us too close, that way we can sneak up."

* * *

Mai sighed in relief. "Geez, that was close. And here I thought all you could do was zanjutsu. Huh? Where'd he…" She stopped when she sensed him behind her. She spun as fast as she could and began to move away but his speed and reach were too great, granting him a slice across her gut. It wasn't to deep, but there was still blood pouring out of it. Mai put a hand to her gut to hold some of it in, and to test the pain. "That was, pretty good. I guess you've got your guts back."

"Back down. Let me through, or it will just get worse."

She smiled. "You're tough you know that." She vanished and reappeared in front of him thrusting her weapon forward at him. Ichigo grabbed her arm to stop it so that he wouldn't need to touch the blade. When he did so she smiled and pointed her other hand at his chest. "Hado 54, Haien!"

Ichigo tried to twist away so that the spell wouldn't hit him dead on. He was partially successful, turning it into a shoulder wound. The purple blast had cleaved straight through the upper part of his shoulder and left behind a burning flame that Ichigo had to put out with his hand. In doing so he not only released Mai from his grip but burnt his hand somewhat as well. With her arm free Mai brought her arm up and began a downward swing that would hit Ichigo on the top of the head with Juubatsu. He raised Zangetsu and used as a shield, but was still launched downward at an incredible rate.

They were high enough that Ichigo was able to slow his decent somewhat before he impacted with a roof, so he landed on his feet and slid couple meters back. Mai however was diving for him at full speed, holding Juubatsu forward. Ichigo reared Zangetsu back like a bat, ready to meet her. _'He's a fool, anything that touches Juubatsu is knocked away, there is no stopping it no matter how hard you swing!'_

She was closer, closer, then even closer. Ichigo began his swing, and as the blades were about to meet he said "Getsuga Tensho." The blue energy arc collided with Juubatsu at point blank range and was not thrown away. Mai's arm buckled under the pressure and she took the full brunt of the blast.

Mai had surged her reiatsu up at the last moment to defend, but it still pained her and sent her flying back. When she landed she was very near the Urahara shop. She stood up ad wiped the blood off of her brow. "Damn…I didn't see that coming." She looked around and felt for reiatsu sources. Ichigo was headed right for her, and fast. She turned and began a run back towards the Urahara shop.

* * *

Seijin held the beast at bay with his club for a moment before pulling it back and spinning., building up momentum to slam the beast sideways into a building. He gripped his left fist as hard as he could drawing more and more reiatsu out of it and channeling it through his body into Yamabushi. In response Yamabushi developed several large blunt spikes. "In this form there is now doubt that you are a hollow, I no longer need to hold anything back! This is the maximum level of damage I can get using only shikai. And with it I will slay thee, monster." The creature recovered from the attack and rushed forward again.

It ran in a manner similar to that of an ape, propelling itself on all fours. Once it was close enough to Seijin it slammed it's arms down toward him, impacting with asphalt. Seijin had sidestepped. He brought his club around and toward the beast. Though it blocked with its shield like arm, the arm was not strong enough to negate the attack, resulting in the spikes chipping away at the protrusion in several places. With its other elongated arm it punched towards the Shinigami, and also in doing so it released a massive energy blast. Seijin could not dodge it completely but he was able to defend with his club.

It pushed him back several feet and when he was sure the blast had dissipated he raised Yamabushi again to defend against another charge from the beast. This time it willing grabbed hold of Yamabushi and also bit into it. Seijin quickly tore the weapon away. "My zanpakuto will not be your meal!" With the beast off balance from having its food torn away Seijin lunged forward and stabbed it with Norainu's punching dagger component. The blade sank into the beast's chest, eliciting an anguish filled cry.

* * *

Orihime shivered as she heard the cries echoing around her. She knew it was hollow, that could not be denied, but at the center of it all she could hear Chad's voice.

Kaku noted her fear. "Your friend has bee fully devoured by his hollow nature. Seijin is now trying to destroy him."

Orihime gripped the bottle and then held it aloft again. "Please, give him this! You don't need to kill him!"

As she pleaded Mai appeared in the yard. Though the other two were surprised to see her, she didn't give them time to ask questions. Instead she bent down and picked up her harp before vanishing once more.

* * *

Seijin retracted the blade and jumped swinging Yamabushi upward as he did, resulting in it slamming the Beast in an uppercut that sent it upward. The spikes that covered it, though blunt, dug deep into his hollow flesh. When it landed it writhed in pain for a moment before rolling and standing up. It turned to follow the scent of the opponent but was struck too quickly to see them. Seijin exercised the advantage he had gained by repeatedly slamming his zanpakuto into the creature, pitting it's flesh with bruises and forcing blood out from sheer bludgeoning force.

Eventually he batted the beast so hard that it flew and landed in the yard of the Urahara shop.

When she saw it she couldn't believe it. Her senses told her it was Chad, but her eyes couldn't believe it.

With an enormous slam Seijin appeared, hammering his zanpakuto into the beast's gut and standing atop its chest. He placed Norainu against the mask of the hollow ready to cleave through it.

"Sado-kun!" Orihime took a step forward but was cut off by Kaku appearing in front of her.

Kaku snatched the bottle from her hand and pointed his free hand at her chest. "Hado 1: sho." Orihime was knocked back and off of her feet. When she sat up to see what was going on she could see that Kaku was now in between Seijin and the hollow. The hollow let loose it's howl and in that moment Kaku dropped something into it's mouth. He then turned to Seijin. "Give it a moment. If he still looks to be a hollow, kill it."

Orihime winced as he said the last words, and tears were already welling in her eyes.

* * *

Ichigo finally caught up to Mai above the Urahara shop. She was smiling and holding her harp. "It looks like your friends aren't doing so well." Ichigo looked around. He could see Yoruichi lying on a roof with a pool of blood around her leg. He could see a hollow that was reminiscent of Chad on the ground with a large club holding him down. "Sorry about all that. The others must have been trying a little harder then I was. You see Juubatsu is a nice weapon, but it isn't really mine. No, This is my true zanpakuto." She held the harp forward. "Sing to the heavens, sing to the earth, sing to the demons, Ryuusei _(falling star)_!!" The harp transformed into a sword, and then the word began to glow bright white for a moment. When the light faded Mai was holding a standard katana handle, but the blade looked like it was made of glass with a blue tint to it.

She held the blade down and rushed forward at Ichigo, bringing the blade up for an upward slice. Ichigo readied Zangetsu to block the predictable attack. But there was no impact. Ryuusei passed straight through both Zangetsu and Ichigo without ever touching. She stopped raising the blade when she had it neatly positioned inside of Ichigo's chest. Her smile frightened Ichigo. He knew an attack was coming so he swung Zangetsu as if to behead her. It passed through her neck without so much as making her flinch.

"Maybe you weren't listening. This blade is Ryuusei, a falling star. It doesn't make much sense for a falling star to move upwards does it? So when it does, it just doesn't exist. But moving down is a whole different story." She lightly lowered the blade, and Ichigo had the very sudden sensation of being stabbed through the lung. Being familiar with such a thing though, he didn't lose his composure. Instead he flipped Zangetsu around and swung at her again. She quickly lifted her sword just a touch, and once more Zangetsu passed through harmlessly. With his swing complete she brought her sword down once again cut a large gash through Ichigo's chest.

He couldn't stop himself from coughing up blood. He brought Zangetsu around for another attack which she negated by raising her sword again. As soon as she was intangible he leapt away from her. Ichigo was now breathing heavily and bleeding from the mouth and chest. He gripped the place where she had stabbed, just an inch from his heart. "Damn, what kind of power is that?"

"A good one. It's the power wielded by the captain of the 8th squad. The ultimate Zanjutsu technique. You can't block it, you can't counter it. Now then, Ichigo, this should only knock someone of your level out, but if you die that will just be too bad." Ichigo glared at her, stalwart in his disbelief. "Bakudo 61: Rikujokoro."

The 6 beams of light hammered into Ichigo's body, pinning him. Most importantly, they applied most of their pressure directly to the wound in his chest, both squeezing it shut and forcing against as if ripping it open. He imagined that was her doing. She rushed forward, holding Juubatsu forward, aiming for his head. He tried to force the beams away, and they started to bend, but the pain in his chest distracted him. He couldn't concentrate or ignore it in his current state.

The thin blade barely sliced across Ichigo's skull, but what he felt immediately was the pressure. His head, and neck, even his brain all desperately tried to fly backwards, but his body, still held by the kido was unable to follow. He thought his neck was going to snap off. It felt like his brains would just go flying out the back of his skull. But they didn't.

Finally the beams broke and Ichigo was sent flying head first away and down. He impacted hard into concrete.

* * *

The Beast fell silent for a moment. Then it lunged and lurched before opening it's mouth. With a sickening hurling noise it began to spit up what was unmistakably Chad. He landed on the ground, unconscious, but alive. The Hollow body that was left behind simply began to disappear.

Seijin walked over to the young man and lifted him up by the arm. "No more reiatsu at all. He's just an ordinary human. Tell me, Kaku, how did you do this to him?"

Kaku didn't answer he just turned to Orihime. Orihime cringed. "It was medicine from Urahara-san. Just in case his powers ever went out of control."

Seijin raised the punching dagger. "They will never go out of control again."

Kaku raised his hand. "Seijin, he is human now, completely. Your order stands."

Disappointed, but obedient he dropped the body and sealed his swords.

* * *

Ichigo's eyes opened, but he couldn't see very well. His head was spinning, his ears were ringing, and all he could taste or smell was blood. Eventually he stood, trying to get a barring on his surroundings. He looked up, and as the images settled he could still make out Mai, standing triumphantly in the air above him. He gathered all his will and rushed forward. She raised her zanpakuto just a bit and let him waste the swing going right through her. "Don't you listen!" With her zanpakuto still raised she spun and shoved Juubatsu into Ichigo's shoulder.

Being intangible it didn't do anything to him. Then she lowered Ryuusei just a bit. When Juubatsu materialized its ability triggered. And all the flesh in Ichigo's right shoulder was touching it. His shoulder exploded outward in every direction. His arm dangled to the side, affixed to his body by a single remaining strand of flesh, but he had no more control of it, and so it dropped Zangetsu. His brain had halted from the shock of it all. Even so he had enough sense to know that someone had a hand on what remained of his shoulder and collar bone.

The owner of the hand moved around him and looked into his eyes, stained with blood from the cut on his forehead. "You are really strong you know that. I can already tell you won't die from all of this. Still, You've earned it for being so close to death." She grabbed his head and kissed his bloody lips.

Despite being in shock over his arm Ichigo was by far more surprised at this move of hers. When she pulled away he was so confused he didn't even react when she tapped him on the top of his head with Juubatsu, sending him plummeting with such speed that has barely attached arm was ripped the rest of the way off.

He landed right outside the Urahara shop. When the dust cleared Orihime could see the shape he was in. "Ku…Ku…Kurosaki-kun!!!!!"

* * *

As soon as they were outside of the portal, they knew they had made a mistake. They could sense the huge masses of reiatsu off towards the Urahara shop. But more importantly they could feel their friends losing, quickly. Keigo began to stutter. "I think we really should get out of here guys!"

"Well you should have thought of that before you came." Standing above them, on a roof top was Ayame. "You fools. Of all those that serve Menboku-sama, my senses are by far the most accurate. You think I wouldn't see you coming from this far away?"

Tatsuki began to prepare for battle but stopped when the opponent vanished. A scream echoed in the alleyway. Tatsuki and Keigo spun and saw that Ayame was now standing right among them, holding Mizuiro's hand in such a way that she had broken most of his fingers. "Mizuiro!"

Ayame just smiled. "There, now you won't be running away." Tatsuki's armor formed on her hands and she punched at Ayame with full strength. Ayame just caught her hand. "Don't patronize me. Lets face it, you guys are weak. And I'm a lieutenant level Shinigami. The only reason I'm here to fight you all is to give my abilities a little warm up after a year without any combat at all." She pushed Tatsuki back and drew her sword. "Try to dodge just a bit, ok?"

The blade was moving way to fast for Tatsuki to avoid it. At the moment of truth though, it stopped, blocked by an invisible barrier. Keigo was holding his staff out. "Everyone Run!!! I'll hold her off!!"

Tatsuki jumped back. "But you don't have nearly the strength I do!"

Ayame brought her sword back from the barrier and pointed it at Keigo. "You're wrong. Your friend over there with the broken hand has the most unique ability, bending space like he does, and you have the most potent ability, blasting out reiatsu like that, but this kid here, he's by far the strongest of the three of you. You never realized that?"

Tatsuki was just flabbergasted. But Mizuiro didn't seem so surprised. "I guess you just couldn't sense it like I could Arisawa-san. "It's probably from all the time that Keigo would spend with Ichigo, even against his will. Keigo was the first one of us to develop full awareness of the spirit world, it just makes sense that he would also be the first to start developing his reiatsu."

"So, you guys get your strength from that orange haired guy. Well it doesn't matter now. I'm fighting all three of you."

"Hey come on, just let them run, why can't you fight against me?" Despite the bravery inherent to the words, Keigo was shaking and shivering in fear.

Ayame smiled. "You all showed up together, it's only right that you fight together. Besides, even you would be boring by yourself. And I can already tell you focus on defense. So why don't you try defending them again!"

Ayame spun and ran right towards Tatsuki and Mizuiro.

* * *

"Thos idiotic jerks! Bad enough that they went into that dangerous place, but they even left me behind!!! That's just not fair!! I want to see what's going on too!!! Why is it no one ever treats me with any respect at all!!!!!!!!!!" Kon started to rub his face, despite the lack of tears. "Wait I know, there's no way they won't get into trouble over there, so if I show up for a rescue, they'll be all happy and that girl will want to rub her knockers all over me!!!" Kon looked around the room, spying Ichigo's body. "No, Ichigo will kill me if I take his body for a ride without his permission." The little lion doll suddenly put on a devilish grin. "Sorry Urahara but this definitely falls under the 'no other choice' category."

He walked over to the closet and pushed it open. Something large and heavy fell out. "I still can't believe no one ever found this in there. Even Orihime who looked didn't seem the least bit weirded out. Ok then here we go." Kon climbed atop it and coughed.

* * *

A/N: Bad guys: 3, Good guys: 0, It's just hard to fight against opponents without knowing what they're going to do, and who can also use two zanpakuto to your one. 


	14. Despair

A/N: I know it's been a while, but rock band is reallllllly fun. I am getting pretty good at the drums, I got 100 on gimme shelter playing hard. But you guys deserve an update. Also, Either I'm reading Kubo's mind, or he's reading mine. A recently published chapter bears an event very similar to something coming up in my fic down the line. But it was original before Tite came up with the same idea, so I'm just gonna run with it.

Reviews: Yay for reviews!!

Red: Uryu will be showing up very soon, but not yet. In fact he'll be becoming more of a focus very quickly.

Hwon: If yur referring to my naruto fic, I swear I wasn't even thinking about it. But your right that is very similar. I make sure that no one in future fics loses a right arm only to get it back. And yeah, hes gonna get it back, obvious enough with Orihime running around.

Sweet: There will be much heavier Ichihime stuff soon, so keep reading.

RBach: thank you.

Raven: Yeah, these guys are pretty badassed. And Kon's "Thing" will be revealed in this chapter.

Demon: I still think this was a bit long of a wait. Suspense is one thing, but still, I should be a bit more consistent.

* * *

Chapter 14: Despair

"Shit!" Keigo raised the staff and put a barrier up between Ayame and his classmates. As soon as he had she threw her sword back towards him. He moved but it sliced through his shoulder. "Gahh!!!"

Keigo landed on his back and in doing so the barrier went down. Tatsuki put up her guard and punched at Ayame. The Shinigami's superior speed allowed her dodge and counterattack by punching Tatsuki in the gut. Her body heaved from the impact, but of the three of them, Tatsuki was the one most used to getting hit. She gritted through it and brought forward another fist to try and hit the enemy. She was easily evaded again, and this time her arm was caught by the Shinigami.

Tatsuki's arm was twisted around her back and her neck was grabbed before she could even respond. The twisting intensified until Tatsuki heard a sickening pop and her arm was dislocated. This too, she could handle. Her arm was released after she heard a shout from someone else. Mizuiro had dived onto Ayame's back and was trying to choke her. The surprising move caused Ayame to release her other captive. She reached up to her neck and grabbed hold of Mizuiro's arms. She ripped them away from her neck and used one to swing him around and throw him into a wall.

After the impact Mizuiro fell to the ground, but raised his left hand and gripped at the air. Ayame felt something still wrapped around her neck. "I need my other hand to control it at range, but I can always use it at close range."

Ayame looked up as she was being choked. Then her eyes glared at Mizuiro. "And?" She turned her head a bit and Mizuiro's ability faded. "That power is pointless against someone of my level. All of yours' are."

Tatsuki leapt up and began another pointless physical assault, while Keigo started to stand while cradling his bleeding shoulder. He lifted the staff and pointed it forward, placing a wall behind Ayame, blocking her next avenue of dodging. Given the opportunity, Tatsuki successfully managed to place a fist into Ayame's face.

The impact didn't face the Shinigami at all. In fact Ayame laughed. "Didn't I already tell you?" Ayame took a step forward, pushing Tatsuki's fist as she went. "None of your powers will work on me!" Ayame vanished and reappeared near her sword. "I'm tired of this." As her sword had landed behind, Keigo, that was who she was closest to. She began a deliberately slow approach to him. In a panic Keigo started to move away from her, but as he did he realized that some where along the way his legs had both been gashed. He used his staff to balance as he hobbled along, and a glimpse over his shoulder showed her still walking slowly and waving her sword about in slow arcs.

During one of these arcs he swore he could see her flicker, and at the same time a shallow cut appeared on his cheek. _'Oh man! She's gonna hack me apart bit by bit!! Why did we even come here!!!!'_ He tried to turn around and set up a shield, but as soon as he had she vanished and appeared on the other side of it, closer to him then ever. He also cried out in pain as his hand had been pierced by her sword. It hurt so much that he dropped his staff.

"Keigo!!!" Tatsuki ran forward, placing herself between her friend and her foe. Ayame simply swung her sword again and Tatsuki endured through having deep gash placed along her right arm. "I'm sorry that I got us into this. I don't know how, but I'll get us out of it!" Tatsuki started a forward charge, while Ayame raised her sword, ready to impale the charging girl.

"SUPER RESCUE GO!!!!!!!!!!!" Both Tatsuki and Ayame were cut off in their advances by the appearance of a young man. Tatsuki had stopped out of instinct, but Ayame's halt was a bit more abrupt. The young man was standing on her sword, having landed on the back of it and driving it down to the ground. Triumphant he looked up at her. "Part Two!!!!!!" He reared back and kicked her in the chest with incredible speed and force. The power of the blow ripped her hands away from her sword and sent her several meters back. Again, triumphant the young man stood with a wide smile. "Victory goes to…" Then he paused. "You know as long as I'm in this body I should definitely have a cooler name then Kon. Hmmmmmmm… I know I'll go with Kai like I originally planned."

Something in what he said finally made sense to the stupefied Tatsuki. "Kon?"

Kon spun and looked right at her. "NOOO!!!! From now on I'm Kai!"

"Well whoever the hell you are…Just wait a second who the hell are you?! Weren't you a stuffed animal?!!!"

Kai turned back towards the Shinigami. "Nope. I'm a modified soul. I can freely switch between bodies as long as there isn't a soul in them, or if I can punch the soul out. So normally I hang out in that plushy. But I've got this gigai now so I can fight!"

As Tatsuki kept on watching him, she realized that he did remind her of Kon. He was about as tall as Ichigo, with similar albeit a browner shade of hair. He was wearing brown pants and a yellow hoody with a blue cross on the hood. "You can fight?"

"Yeah! I'm here to be the hero! So get ready to grovel and reward me for my selflessness. I expect full frontal nudity as reward."

Disgusted beyond all reason Tatsuki punched him in the back of the head. "You asshole!! It's not selflessness if you expect a reward!!! And how dare you make such outrageous demands!!!!!!!"

"What do you mean I'm not supposed to expect a reward?!!! What's the point of saving people then?!!!"

"Well it's the right thing to do you…" Tatsuki didn't have time to finish her statement. Kon grabbed her by the waist and leapt up into the air, avoiding an attack from Ayame.

As he landed he dropped Tatsuki onto her gut. Despite her disappointment in how he treated her she was happy to not be dead. Ayame on the other hand bent down and picked up her sword. "Another little insect to fight with."

Kai stepped forward. "Stay back, I can totally handle this."

Ayame shook with rage. "Like someone with a reiatsu signature as pathetic as yours could ever hope to beat me." She put her hand forward. "I'll just beat all four of you at once! Hado 33, Sokatsui!"

The blue blast went hurtling right at Kai, who stood incredibly still. Just before contact he kicked upward, diverting the blast and sending it upward.

Ayame was a little shook up when she saw that. _'No way. No one with such pathetic reiatsu could deflect that. Is he like Kaku? Can he suppress his strength?'_

Kai looked down and saw that his shoe was burnt. "Ahhhh I liked these shoes!! Look what you did to them!!! That's it. I was gonna go easy on you in the hopes that you might convert to the forces of good and become one of my women, but ruining my shoes…Actually would you still be open to that?"

Ayame gritted her teeth. "I am wife to Sozo Menboku-sama before anything else! I cannot let such an insult slide. I'll make sure to kill you now."

"Wife huh? Well there goes that dream…Anyway whatever. Just try and kill me! You won't even get close!" In response Ayame charged and started slicing away with her sword. Kai rapidly dodged each one. After one such attack he leapt up and away from her. He landed cleanly and smiled. "That the best you got?"

She cringed in rage. With her shunpo she tried to get behind him and slice him in half, but as soon as she did he had leapt up and spun in order to kick her into the wall. As he landed Kai started bouncing, using just his toes to lift himself off the ground repetitively.

Ayame moved forward. "There's just no way that you could be hitting me this hard without some kind of a reiatsu signature. How are you hiding your strength?!"

Kai stopped bouncing and put his hands in his pockets. "I'm not. I'm just a mod soul. I guess you don't know what that is? Well it's an artificial soul that was made to be put inside a corpse to fight against hollows. The project was scrapped but I managed to survive, and ended up being a valuable ally to Ichigo, saving his life several times when he needed me most. And now I've got my own body."

Ayame gripped her sword harder. "That doesn't explain anything! Nothing can be as strong as you are without some kind of a reiatsu burst at the moment of impact. Even if a human being could be that strong, using such strength would destroy their muscles and burst their heart from the strain, no matter how much physical training they underwent!"

Kai bobbed again. "Well I'm not human. When I used to use Ichigo's body, I was pretty limited. Nothing too extreme, or his living body would have died. But this gigai of mine. It's way stronger, I can do stuff like…" He brought his leg up to his chest. "This!" He kicked out at the air in front of him; producing enough force that Ayame was forced to stumble back. "So awesome! Man I should be called super Kai or something!"

Ayame rushed forward and began to attack again. Kai was dodging easily though. Eventually she performed a vertical slice that he sidestepped and countered by kicking her in the side. With a slide he repositioned him self and kicked her in the back, forcing her to hunch over. He slid again and began a series of kicks into her gut which lifted her off the ground. He Then performed a back flip, during which he kicked her once more in the gut and then again in the face. The force of these final blows was great enough that Ayame was thrown a ways into the air. Before she could retaliate though Kon had already leapt up, and he flew to just above her and landed gently on her back. "Bombs away!" He kicked her straight down.

The force of her impact produced a shockwave that even Tatsuki and the others could feel. Kai landed very plainly a little ways away from the impact crater. He smiled and started leaping around again. "Victory: Kai!!!"

"Not yet it's not." Kai stopped dancing as he saw Ayame crawling out of the crater. She stood up. "I didn't want to admit it, but it is all physical strength. Pretty amazing too, to do it without being a spirit. Still, I can't lose to pathetic beings like you! Swarm, Arizuka _(Anthill)_!" Her katana didn't change shape at all, but a number of black spots appeared along the blade. None of them stayed still, giving the impression that the sword was swarming with tiny insects. Ayame's face also changed, with two black marks appearing on her forehead and two more on her cheeks, the cheek marks being bolder.

Ayame ran forward at Kai once again and he ducked under her horizontal swing. In doing so he was able to see first hand as five of the black specs coating her weapon broke away and in the blink of an eye grew into fully formed clones of Ayame, complete with the same sword. They all brought their swords down towards Kai, who was only barely able to avoid by kicking off and flying between two of them. He slid along the ground but quickly righted himself and stood, now looking at six enemies. He could no longer tell which one was the real one. "Hey guys! Me senses sorta suck, can you tell me which one is the real one?"

Mizuiro shook his head. "I can't tell! They're all giving off the same reiatsu!"

"Well, geez, that's annoying. Guess I'll have to trounce all of you." Kai sprinted forward and kicked the closest Ayame in the head. The clone quickly vanished. But Kai noted that his leg was completely stopped. He had planned on kicking right through that one and into the next one, but his leg lost all momentum as soon as it hit the first one. This had the unfortunate side effect of leaving him completely off guard with five sword wielding Shinigami running right at him.

He overcame his initial surprise by leaping, placing him well above the enemy. They all leapt as well, but Kai was able to knock out two more by performing a split kick. The other three swung their swords, and despite his best efforts, he received several slashes.

As if the wounds weren't bad enough, by the end of the swings several more clones had appeared all around him, forming a sphere of Ayame around him. Each smiled, and all Kai could do was mutter one last "Shit…" before he was impaled from every angle.

The three on the ground were shocked, and Keigo began to mutter "not good, we should go." Before they could get anywhere though three Ayame clones shunpo'd close to them.

The clones grinned. "Thought I'd forgot about you? Don't go anywhere. I was a little harsh earlier I know but I'm really not supposed to kill you. In fact my senses tell me that Sozo-sama is about to win his fight, so he'll want to speak with the defeated enemies, and try to explain his situation. You're in for a real treat, Weak as you are, Sozo-sama is a very generous lord, and he allows all peoples into his circle."

Tatsuki tightened the grip on her wounded arm. "Why the hell would we join you after you've done all of this to us?!" She heard a thud and spun to see that Kai had finally landed. She couldn't see very much of him, but she did hear a cough and see his body twitch.

One of the Ayame's surrounding Kon bent down and picked up a small green pill that the defeated enemy had just coughed up. It was incredibly faint, but there was reiatsu in the pill. "So, this is a mod soul? How odd. Kaku will be interested in this. As for the rest of you, you're coming. Everyone must be there for Sozo-sama's moment of victory."

Before any of the three of them could protest, they were unconscious.

The pack of Ayames, now reduced to five, quickly made there way back to the courtyard, just shortly after Ichigo's plummet. Kaku turned to look at them. "Why is it no one will follow my direction? Mai! You were far too violent." Mai began to speak but Kaku cut her off. "None of your excuses. And you Ayame, leaving like that in the heat of battle, when you know that your duty was protecting Menboku-sama's cape."

"The cape is fine, I left a hair with it so that I would know if it started moving, you know how good my senses are!"

"No more of this. In the future I will enforce my self more harshly."

Mai's blade Juubatsu suddenly appeared millimeters from Kaku's neck. She cradled it there. "Remember that you're not our lord, and even to Sozo, we're not just little toys to be commanded along strings."

Kaku smiled. "You say that while you hold his very gift as your means of attack." Kaku twitched his fingers upward and Mai's hand was pulled away by several iridescent yellow strings. He spun and the strings expanded wrapping around her arm and forcing it to her own throat. "Don't toy with me Mai, and remember that everything I say is serious. Hmm?"

Kaku heard a shuffling noise behind him. Orihime was slowly rising to her feet. _'Sado-kun…Asano-kun…Kojima-kun…Tatsuki…Ichigo…'_ "I'm sorry every one. I'm not standing down any more."

Kaku turned to face her. "Orihime. If you raise a single hand to aid these people in any way I will have no choice but to stop you."

"FINE!!! I don't care anymore. I won't stand aside while everyone else fights." Filled with rage and ignoring a growing feeling to stop herself Orihime closed her eyes and screamed. "Soten Kisshun I Reject!"

Rather then just two of them, all six of her fairy's appeared. They looked at her with varying looks, fear being the most common, with rage showing in one instance. Shuno hovered in front of her master's face. "Orihime…I'm sorry. You shouldn't have called for us…But it's too late now."

* * *

Deep underground Kisuke was driven by injury and exhaustion to his knees, the upper part of his body supported by his sword, driven into the ground. The victor of their fight approached him and placed the wider sword, Sutegoueru at the side of his head. "I've told you my purpose, and I have revealed my power to you. I will give you one last chance. Stop this pointless conflict, our enemy is the same one!"

Kisuke smirked. "They do say that the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Sozo began to smile a bit. "I guess I should go ask Aizen for help first chance I get."

All sense of joy left Sozo's face. He lifted the blade above his head and roared in fury quickly bringing it back down. Just before impact he stopped, and his arm was wrenched almost verticall, with Sutegoueru pointing into the ground above their heads. He starred at his sword reverently. "Have you found your prey, Has it finally arrived?!"

* * *

A/N: Bankai time…That would be bad… 


	15. Rejection

A/N: It's a big one! Longest chapter I've ever written. And it sounded so much smaller in my head. What ever. Something will actually be resolved in this chapter. And then like three more loose ends will be left untied so you know, standard stuff.

Reviews:

Nasuki: cliffies are not evil. If I didn't have the power of the cliff, how would I keep you all coming back?

Demon: here ya go.

Sweety: I had to try and think, what if kon was actually suddenly useful? An that's the attitude I gave him.

Hwon: Well OP has been going on way longer then bleach, so who knows.

Raven: No, Orihime doesn't have a bankai, but she kinda…well…I'm gonna quote Kaku from chapter 11 "Any being who reveals its true power to Sutegoueru, is taken by it." Doesn't say jack about Bankai in there.

* * *

Chapter 15: Rejection

Orihime found herself in a completely black space. There was simply darkness everywhere, so deep and prefect she couldn't even tell if there was ground under her feet, but assumed that there was because she wasn't falling. "Oh! Ummm, where am I? Wasn't I just in a medow? Oh no, I thought I was in front of Urahara-san's shop…What's going on?! Can anyone hear me?!!"

"I can hear you."

Orihime turned around. Joining her in the pitch black space, and seated level with her feet was a small boy with long black unkempt hair and rags for clothes. "Who…are you?"

The boy suddenly shook and it's voice became much more hostile, adding a very menacing undertone. "I don't want to tell you who I am!!! Then you won't like me!!! No one likes me!!!! They're all so afraid. And all I want is help…"

Somewhat startled by his reaction, Orihime took a step back. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to upset you, I just need to go help my friends."

"Friends?" His voice was much calmer again.

"Yes, they really need my help, so I have to leave."

"Leave? Leave me alone?"

"Well, I don't really know who you are, but if you could show me how to get out of here, you could come with me, no wait if you knew how to get out and could get you would have just gotten out on you own, so either you don't know how to get out, or do and can't or…"

"I don't want to leave this place. I don't want you to leave this place."

Orihime paused for a second. "I'm sorry, but I really must leave. My friends need me now."

"They'll live. You don't need to worry. The worst is the man who lost his arm. But he strong, and it's just his spirit form, it's difficult to bleed to death as a ghost, even if it is possible."

Orihime suddenly had a rush of fear. "Please let me leave."

"No." The deep undertone had returned to the voice, giving it a sinister sound now.

"I need to leave."

"You aren't going to. Not until it's done. And then even after you have left me, you won't be too far away. We can always talk. It doesn't take very long, eventually everyone sees things through my view. You'll grow accustomed to this life of a zanpakuto, just like everyone else."

"Who are you?"

The small boy stood up. "My name, is Sutegoueru. And you are my newest friend, Orihime Inoue, but your new name is Shun Shun Rikka."

He turned, revealing his face. His eyes were pitch black and wide open. She became enveloped in them, and he disappeared into the utter black.

* * *

Orihime had only moments earlier called upon her powers, when a sudden eruption burst through the ground in the alleyway leading o Urahara's shop. The cause of the explosion was a man, wielding two swords. One of his arms rapidly swung out, pointing a wide rectangular blade right at Orihime. The man smiled. "Bankai! Take that which is rightfully yours!! Kaito Sutegoueru _(mysterious thief, starving child)_!!!" The flat blade turned completely black and at the same time so did every member of the shun shun rikka and Orihime. The blackness that enveloped them was complete, with no varying shades to give definition, just absolute black as if they had suddenly became a void.

In the next moment the six blackened fairies flew and fused into the silhouette of Orihime. Her dark form didn't even react to the sudden impact. After another moment, her body changed form into that of a sword. Without a pause it flew up and was caught by Sozo, who had sheathed Yomitomoi. The pure black sword began to take on other colors. The sheath became beautifully crafted with multiple colors spiraled along it's length. The cross guard became a six pointed snow flake. The hilt weaving was orange.

"I…Inoue?"

Mai turned around, having been somewhat fixated on the process she had been witnessing. What she saw left her in awe. "don't you know how to stay down?"

Ichigo was slowly coming to his feet, wincing in pain as he did so. The fall had completely dislodged his arm, and Zangetsu was on a nearby roof. The world was still fuzzy, but he had been sure of what he had just seen. Something black had taken Orihime. "What did you do with her?"

Mai looked down at him. "Sorry, but apparently that little girl tried to use Bankai to help you out. Whenever that happens near Sutegoueru he just snatches it up."

Ichigo didn't understand. "Bankai?"

"You know full well that Bankai isn't the only thing that triggers Sutegoueru's hunger. It's just a simple matter of having a full and absolute manifestation of one's soul. Bankai is the form a shinigami's power takes, but clearly Inoue-san was able to unleash the true form of her soul, simply on instinct. It's too bad actually. She was such a lovely young woman."

Ichigo shook his head as he continued to stand. "What are you saying.?"

"She's gone Kawai-kun, merged with Sozo Menboku as a new zanpakuto for his own use, or one of ours if he hands her over. Sorry, but you'll never see her again. If you don't want to face that, or other worse fates, I suggest you bow down and pledge allegiance to Menboku-sama."

Ichigo was now standing almost fully upright, except for a hunch which he needed to stay balanced. With a shunpo he moved to where Zangetsu had landed and reached down with his left arm to pick it up. While he had a good grip on it, it didn't move. Kaku had moved and was now standing on the blade, holding it to the ground. Ichigo grunted and pulled on the sword even harder, uprooting Kaku's foot and moving back into an impromptu fighting style. Kaku reached for his zanpakuto and said "Speak…" But before he could finish another voice was heard.

"Stop Kaku. It's me he wants to fight. Because I have this." He held aloft the Zanpakuto that was forged from Orihime. Ichigo gritted his teeth. "You are not the first to swear vengeance upon me for transforming a loved one into my weapon. But none have ever succeeded. Even the man who owns that home could not even match me. What makes you believe you will fair better?"

Ichigo leapt up dragging Zangetsu behind him. About halfway to a collision with Sozo he swung the blade and yelled out the name of it's special technique. The massive blue crescent flew threw the air right at it's target.

Sozo just smiled. "Santen Kesshun, I reject." A large triangular shield formed in front of Sozo and broke the crescent wave apart. Seeing Orihime's technique caused Ichigo to stop. Sozo held up the blade and sheathe. "Though it is limited to only three techniques, they can be quite potent if the user has the will. A shield, a healing power, and an attack. Let's give the latter a try. Koten Zashun, I reject."

The black and red fairy flew out of one of the snowflake tips of the cross guard and hovered for a moment. "Not a chance."

"Excuse me?"

"Your ears clogged or something? I just told you there is no chance in hell that I would attack him."

Sozo grimaced. Then he smirked. "Ah but of course. You are new to me, it will take some time before I am fully in control of you."

"Time doesn't have anything to do with it. I flat out refuse to help you harm him."

Sozo didn't seem phased at all. He held up the sheathed weapon. For a moment it surged. During that moment Tsubaki cringed and when it was over he hunched and began breathing heavily. "I have ways to tame you, strong spirit. Now attack him."

"Not…a…chance!"

"You certainly are persistent. But you will bend to my will eventually."

"It's not your will I serve. I have my own."

"You think too highly of yourself spirit, you are nothing but a fragment of the soul that serves as your original basis, that young woman. Now that I have removed her will, it is mine you follow."

"You really don't listen very well do you? I have my own will. That girl Orihime, we're more then just fragments of her. It's far more special then that. Each of us has an individual will power. And we're the ones that dictate what we do with our existence. Being made from Orihime just gives us a habit of agreeing with her more often then not." Tsubaki stood in the air at full height and turned towards Sozo. He waved his arm and a thin orange blade extended out giving Sozo a small scratch on the cheek. "So don't you ever try to tell me to attack him. Because Orihime would never forgive me for that."

Sozo shook his head. "If you really didn't wish to help me, then why did you defend me earlier?"

A few more fairies drifted into Sozo's view. The largest of them, Baigon, began to speak. "We defended you because that is our nature."

The skinny fairy spoke next. "Orihime would want as few people injured as possible, whether they be ally or enemy."

Finally the female fairy spoke up. "That's right. We want all this fighting to end now!"

A new, more mature female voice sounded from behind Sozo. "That's right Lily. However, what really needs to be taken care of is Ichigo. He's in very bad shape. C'mon Ayame"

The two female spirits flew at Ichigo and formed their healing shield around him. This move somewhat surprised Ichigo, but he was grateful for it, especially as his arm began to regenerate. "Thank you…"

Shuno's voice responded. "No need Ichigo, we're merely doing exactly what Orihime would want. I'll have to warn you though, if he calls on us defend him or heal his allies again we won't be able to say no to hiiiiahhhhh…" The shield began to flicker.

Ichigo looked back over at Sozo who was tightly gripping the sheathe of his newest sword. A visible surge of electricity was running along it, and each of the fairies were cringing in pain. Sozo held it before him and spoke directly to the sword. "Now listen hear, all six of you. Your old masters will is irrelevant. Your old wills are gone now. You serve me now. I command you to stop healing my enemy." He surge of electricity stopped and the fairies began to breathe easier. "Will you comply?"

Shuno took a deep breath and looked around. "Absolutely. Ayame, follow my lead please." The two of them flew far apart, in opposite directions away from Ichigo. They also flew downward significantly. After there was quite a distance between them they began to glow. An enormous shield formed, incasing not only Ichigo, but also everyone on the ground in front of the Urahara shop.

All of their wounds began to heal at a remarkable rate. As soon as her knee was fixed Yoruichi shot up to her feet and away from Suba. With some distance she began to watch him closely, but she could somehow tell that he wasn't paying complete attention to her, and was more interested in his leader. Tatsuki, Mizuiro and Keigo all suddenly woke up and noted that their wounds were simply vanishing. Even Kon's gigai was rapidly repairing itself. Another person was also taking advantage of the healing, though he remained concealed within the shop.

Mai touched a finger to her head, and then began to examine her whole body. "That sure is some technique, I feel like I was never even fighting."

Even Ayame looked herself over, noting that the sore points from where she had been kicked were vanishing. While examining herself she remembered the pill she had in her hand and began to examine it as well. From behind her a hand flew out and grabbed the pill. The arm retracted quickly but Ayame spun to see that it was Tatsuki. She tightly gripped the pill and began to back away. She bumped into something just as Ayame disappeared from view and realized that Ayame's sword was poking her back. "You really are being very annoying."

"Leave her be Ayame. We must prepare to depart. Get Menboku-sama's cape." Kaku was also staring up at Sozo, watching him very intently.

Ayame did as she was told, quickly moving to the front of the Urahara shop where the cape had been rolled up and was leaning against a wall. When she grabbed it she also noted the presence that was at the entrance on the inside. She leapt away as the door opened to reveal the shop's owner. "Why hello there everyone." He looked around. "That's odd, I was sure I would see Orihime up here creating this field."

"Unfortunately not." Yoruichi leapt down to face Urahara. "The leader activated his Bankai, and somehow turned Orihime into a new zanpakuto. It looks like she's rebelling against him, considering this field."

Almost just as she said it the field dissipated. Far above them Sozo had begun to electrocute the blade again. Tsubaki hovered in front of him. "Didn't I already tell you? We aren't going to stop just from a little pain."

The electrocution stopped. "As you wish. This has only ever been necessary once before, but I suppose you are worth it too. A threat."

Tsubaki narrowed his eyes. "A threat, that's it?"

Sozo held up Sutegoueru and brought it down hard on the sheathe to the shun shun rikka. All of the fairies cried out at once in shock and pain. "I can if I so choose destroy this weapon, instantly killing you and your host spirit. Please don't drive me that far."

"You bastard…" Tsubaki clenched his fist.

"Hey Tsubaki. Go back into the blade. I'll handle this." Tsubaki spun and saw that Ichigo had fully recovered during his time in the healing field. The fairies quickly sealed themselves away as he had told them to. Ready, and without anyone to get in the way Ichigo picked up Zangetsu and held it forward with both hands. "Now then, you're going down!!!"

"Hey Kurosaki!!!" The voice echoed from below, and Ichigo and Sozo both looked. Urahara was standing in his front yard and looking up right at Sozo. "Remember what I told you about revolvers and rocket launchers? I think this guy's bankai counts as one big rocket launcher. Just look around. He couldn't maintain it for more then a few seconds. As soon as it was done, something devastating happened. And since then his allies have been very apprehensive and twitchy, as if preparing to defend their lord." Kisuke took note that he now had all of them focused on him. "I'd be willing to bet my whole shop, that right now that guy can't use his bankai for a little while."

It might have just passed as a comment without verification, but Ayame's sideways worried glance to Kaku. A sign of recognition that Urahara caught. "Do It now Ichigo!! Use Bankai!!!!"

Ichigo didn't waste any time. "BANKAI!!!" There was an explosion of reiatsu. When it cleared Ichigo was in his Bankai, and Sozo was not pleased. "Tensa Zangetsu."

Sozo sighed. Then he turned towards Sutegoueru with a look of curiosity. Then he turned back towards Ichigo. "So, you can use your bankai for one day after someone has been lost to my blade. What good will it do you?"

Ichigo was now standing right in front of Sozo with the tip of his sword at his neck. "This…HUAAAAAA!!!"

The blade stabbed forward but Sozo was able to just barely move away, receiving a cut on his chin. The cut quickly sealed itself and disappeared from the effects of Koutaigou but it still left an impression on Sozo. He tried to lift his arms to counter attack, but a much faster Ichigo had already stabbed through his right arm and grabbed the sheathed sword in his left. "Let go of her right now!"

Sozo did just that and his hand shot to his side where he drew his second sword. Ichigo moved away from the drawing strike, carrying the shun shun rikka with him. He was about to plan his next move, but he was interrupted by the appearance of more enemies. All of Sozo's allies had gathered around him. Ichigo tucked the pilfered sword into his sash and charged forward. Mai and Suba stepped forward to stop him but neither could match his speed. With them gone he turned to see an enormous fist coming right at him. He flew over it and kicked the face of it's owner, pushing Seijin back through the air.

"Not good. Sir, I suggest a retreat." Kaku said this while drawing his zanpakuto.

Sozo turned towards him while putting on the cape that Ayame had brought him. "Why do you say that?"

"Sir any moment now, Seireitei is likely to send Shinigami through to see what is going on. Strong as we are, you are vulnerable right now, and it would be best to avoid an escalating conflict at this time."

Sozo smirked. "You are right, as always Kaku. Get us out of here."

Ayame looked at Ichigo and then at Sozo again. "What about your new Zanpakuto?"

Sozo glanced at Ichigo. "I don't need it."

Kaku held his sword forward. "Speak, Furukitsune _(Old Fox, also schemer)_." The blade and hilt in its entirety transformed into a leather strap which quickly wound around Kaku's arm and hand, elongating to cover everything and splitting into five smaller straps to cover each finger individually. It wrapped all the way up to his shoulder before stopping. When he opened his hand there was an orange jewel in the palm. Kaku pointed his left, unwrapped hand out at Ichigo. "Walls of iron sand, A priestly pagoda, Glowing iron-clad fireflies, Standing upright, silent to the end. Bakudo 75: Gochuu Tekkan." From each finger a light shot up and they froze above Ichigo.

When he saw them he prepared to dodge what he knew would be an attack of some sort. Sure enough five iron pillars shot down from the sky, and he just narrowly dodged them. As soon as he did though he found that his arms were locked behind his back by some sort of iron brace that quickly spread and covered the rest of his body, completely locking his movements.

Kaku flexed his hands, having used both of them in his attack. "Everyone gather round." Ichigo was straining against his prison so Kaku waved his right hand and another layer of binding, this time in the form of eight white spheres crashed down and held Ichigo even more still then before, and sent him plummeting to the ground. "Now!"

The three that had been battling Ichigo gathered around Kaku and braced themselves. Kaku held his right hand up. "Right then, go ahead, Furukitsune." A large blue sphere appeared around them.

Ichigo unwilling to give up just yet, broke out of his containment and flew up at them at full speed. But by the time he got close the bubble disappeared and they were all gone. He panted for a few moments before roaring in disappointment. Admitting defeat to himself he lowered his arms, and one of them bumped into the blade tied to his waist.

A cold sweat broke out all over Ichigo's body. He hastily threw Zangetsu towards his waist and paid no attention to the fact that a sheathe connected to his sash by a chain appeared to hold the weapon for him. All of his attention was pointed toward the weapon that was now in his hands. He unsheathed it to look at the blade itself, and saw that in true Orihime fashion the weapon didn't have one, there was just a solid blunt chunk of steel for a blade. He racked his mind for something he could do anything. He got an idea. "Shuno, Ayame?" the fairies quickly leapt out of the hilt and began to look at Ichigo. "Is there anything you can do?"

The fairies looked at each other. Ayame turned back to Ichigo. "I hope so."

Shuno nodded. "We know what you want to try Ichigo, and while we have faith in our abilities, this is complicated. The process wasn't exclusive to Orihime, an effect also took place in Sutegoueru itself, so we may not be able to reverse this without the other sword here."

Ichigo paused for a moment. "Try."'

The fairies nodded and flew to opposite sides of the sword, facing away from it. "We will need to include ourselves in the field so we will not be able to watch the process, you will have to aim and direct the process on your own Ichigo. Just give us the command when you are ready."

Ichigo took a deep breath. "Ayame, Shuno, Soten Kissun, I reject."

The fairies put their hands out and bent a shield backwards around them until it connected and surrounded the sword. Nothing happened. Nothing happened. Nothing happened. Ichigo closed his eyes.

Ichigo's grip on the sword tightened. He realized with some shock that he had not tightened his grip. The sword had swollen, just slightly. It gave him hope, and then quite suddenly the sword was surrounded by pure blackness which quickly expanded and reshaped.

Orihime woke up quite suddenly, several hundred feet above the ground, suspended bridal style in the arms of the very person she had a massive crush on. Her first reaction was to blush. Her second was to begin to cry.

Ichigo for the life of him couldn't think of what the hell to do next. Even the idea of landing and letting Orihime stand on the ground escaped him. He just stood there holding a sobbing Orihime in his arms. It got worse when she actually buried her face in his chest and the crying intensified. Finally a thought occurred to him. "Uhhhh, why are you crying?"

She unleashed one giant sob before almost grunting out "Because!" Ichigo wasn't satisfied with this answer but before he could ask another question Orihime managed to push herself away from Ichigo's tear soaked chest and look down at the hands she was using to hold onto him. "Every time. I'm always so useless and pathetic. I can never do anything."

Words finally formed in Ichigo's head. "That's not true." His right arm gripped her a little tighter. "And everyone else is fine too. Your will healed them all."

She sobbed, and finally wiped her eyes on her arms and looked up at Ichigo. "But there's so much more that I want to do. So much, that I can never get up the courage to do."

His mind was going a little blank again, but Ichigo had to say something. "Like what?"

She looked up again. Her hands were shaking. One was still on Ichigo's back, the other was just barely one his side. That hand moved up and she put it on his shoulder. She pulled, gently at first and neither of them moved. Then she tugged as hard as she could and managed to pull him down and herself up enough that their faces collided and they shared their first kiss.

It didn't last very long. And after it was done Orihime looked at him and said "That." She paused for a second and ordered her thoughts, just to make sure she had actually done what she thought she had. Then she looked at Ichigo again. He looked so odd to her. "Kurosaki-kun? Are you alright?" He nodded, very slightly. She smiled. "I'm sorry, I guess I just surprised you a bit…Ummmm…Kurosaki-kun, can we land please?"

Ichigo began to drop towards the ground. His landing was a little shaky, just like the rest of him. After he was sure of his footing he lowered Orihime and put her down. He looked around at all the faces that surrounded them. One of which he didn't recognize. "Who the hell are you?"

The unknown face smiled and said. "It's me!! Kon. Wait I want to be called Kai now!!"

Ichigo looked him over. "Kon? How did you get like that?"

"Oh, well Urahara gave me this gigai for emergency use in return for me not telling you that your dads auuuuhhhhhhheerrrrrrrrrrrrr…Nothing Oh this I just found it on the ground it's just a manikin. Heheheheheh"

Ichigo picked Kon up by the collar. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Put him down Ichigo." Urahara walked forward. "I guess this was bound to happen. That's just what I get for trusting Kon." He ignored the mod souls back talk and continued. "About your dad, Ishhin-san, he's, well, a Shinigami captain."

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A/N: Bad guys gone, kissing, and secrets revealed. What do you expect from over 4000 words of chapter. Oh well hope you enjoyed. Also if kissy kissy is any hint, that long awaited lemon will be coming up soon, maybe like 3 more chapters. 


	16. Truth

A/N: If the end of the last chap was any indication this one will delve heavily into he whole Isshin thing, which is second in my list of Bleach mysterious I desperately want cleared up (first is the vaizard and how much they know). Now for real life issiues…SUPER SMASH BROS BRAWL ONLY 2 DAYS AWAY!!!!!! YAYYY!!!!!!!!!!! It will take me about 3 days or so (taking into account work and school) to unlock every single bonus feature in the game, so the next chap might take just a bit longer then normal. Not that there's a normal rate of update anyway. So I'll hope to fight some of ya out there in online brawl.

Reviews:

Swift: They have kisses to come so don't worry. And there will be a lemon chapter but the way I write them the lemon takes up the ending part of the chapter, and closes without significant plot development. I also thoroughly warn about it, so you can read up to that point and get the full load of romance and plot without needing to read the sex scene. The blackness? That's just part of Sutegoueru's power, being a shadow thief and all it fits. And hollow Ichigo has not been forgotten, just put aside until it's absolutely needed. Thanks for the review and the read.

Britts: Well I hope to top it, so keep reading.

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Chapter 16: Truth 

Karin tapped her fingers. Again and again and again she tapped them. She was busying herself with this motion while also sipping from a soda. Her sister was dusting and vacuuming. Her dad was washing dishes with a ridiculous apron on. Both of them went about their business, acting like nothing was happening. She knew it was bull.

Even if she doubted her own senses in this regard, her suspicions were confirmed by her twin. Yuzu was randomly shivering or pausing in her tasks. At least it might have looked random, but Karin could sense it. Each of those shivers occurred at the same time as one of those big waves of energy or sound, Karin couldn't really explain how it worked in words. She just knew, that somewhere near that weird shop, people were fighting. She could also tell that one of them was Ichigo.

Suddenly that odd twinge in the back of Karin's head that she knew, _knew_, was Ichigo flared up massively. This was odd, as only moments earlier it had been on the verge of collapse. The sudden flare in his strength was actually strong enough that Karin shivered. Yuzu on the other hand let out a sigh and went back to work. Karin slammed her soda and fist onto the table. "I've had it!" Her family members gazed towards her. "I may not like it, but it's there…" she turned towards Yuzu, "…And I know you can fell I too!" She then faced her father. "You…Well you I could believe as actually being oblivious."

Yuzu looked somewhat nervously at her sister. "What do you mean Karin-chan?"

Karin gritted her teeth. "Ichigo!!! He's out there, right now, fighting!! Can't you sense it?!?!"

Yuzu began to shake and back away from Karin. "I…I don…"

With another slam Karin was now standing up. "Don't lie to me Yuzu!"

Isshin turned and moved over to get between his daughters. "What is wrong with you Karin? You are being so mean to your baby sister!!! It's not nice at all even for you!!"

Karin gritted her teeth and clenched her fist even harder. "You can sense it too can't you? I'll even bet you can see them!"

"See what now?"

"Hollows! Shinigami!! All of it!! All those people that Ichigo hangs out with. Orihime, Chad, Rukia, all those others that showed up and then just disappeared. They can all do these amazing things. And they all fight these big monsters."

Isshin's voice suddenly got much softer. "Karin, you…"

"No Dad I'm not crazy!! I know what I've seen!! And Yuzu was there too. Tell him Yuzu!!"

"Karin I…" Her father tried to interject.

Yuzu began to sob and speak, cutting off her father. "It's true…But…But…It's crazy Karin…Ghosts and monsters, It just can't be real!"

"Girls I…"

"It is real! I know it is. Why don't you tell me what you sense Ichigo doing right now!! I know you can tell just like me!!"

"Sweeties…"

Yuzu buried her face in her hands. "I think he's coming here right now!!"

Everyone paused. Karin looked up, thinking it might help her home in on Ichigo. Sure enough it felt like he was heading right for them, really fast too. All too soon it felt like he was right on top of them. In fact it felt like someone was standing on top of her. She fell to her knees and began to choke on nothing at all, but the air was just too heavy to breathe. Looking up she could see that Yuzu was suffering the same problem, but their dad was just fine. She also noted something black on her peripheral. Turning her head slowly, she saw Ichigo, wearing an altered version of his Shinigami clothes that looked more like a trench coat.

Before Karin could say anything Ichigo lifted up a sword and pointed it right at their father. "You and I need to talk."

Isshin stood up tall and looked at his son. "What about?"

Ichigo was just too damn fast to track. In a single instantaneous movement Ichigo had punched Isshin. That was where things got really weird. Isshin fell to the ground, and standing above him was Isshin, wearing a shihakusho. Ichigo brought his fist away from his father's chest, clenching his badge. "So it's true." Ichigo was shaking.

Isshin sighed. "Yeah, I'm a Shinigami alright. It was Kon who told you wasn't it? I knew we couldn't trust that little…" Isshin quickly drew his sword and blocked a sword strike from Ichigo. Locked by their blades neither moved, but while Ichigo's eyes were locked on his father, Isshin's eyes darted left and right. Then he sighed again. "Ichigo, you're an idiot. Rushing in here completely self-righteous and blinded to what truly matters. Don't you see what your wild anger is doing to your sisters?"

Ichigo's grip on his weapon loosened as he looked at his sisters, driven to the floor simply by his presence. In that moment Isshin pushed his sword forward harder, thrusting Ichigo back through the door and throwing him off balance. Isshin's next move was to quickly grab the back of Ichigo's coat and say, "not to mention your stance is pathetic and you were distracted far too easily. I trained you better then that." By the back of the coat Isshin hurled Ichigo away and upward.

With Ichigo more or less taken care of for the moment he ran back to his daughters. They were fine, just stiff from the reiatsu cloud that had been pushing down on them. "I'm sorry girls, I'll explain this all in detail later but right now your brother needs my help. Stay safe. And stay away!"

With that their father went outside and disappeared. Finally able to stand Karin leapt to her feet and ran outside to look around she could see to black specs in the sky they would maove away from each other and then collide, then do it again. Her eyes weren't being very descriptive, but her other sense told her exactly what was happening. Her brother and her father were fighting, with swords, flying above her right now.

She ran back inside and called out for her sister.

Yuzu replied with a sob. "Why is this happening?"

Karin looked outside. "I don't know…But I want to find out."

* * *

"Let me go!! HYAA!" Orihime punched Urahara with surprising strength, and he actually did let her go. As she turned to leave though Yoruichi was in her way. "Yoruichi-san…" 

"That kind of thing won't work on me Orihime, and is best that you stay here right now. We need to make sure you're all right."

"I'm fine…"

Urahara got to his feet and dusted himself off. "I highly doubt that. Your soul, and material body for that matter just went through two complete metamorphosis. Most people don't even live through one, the fact that your standing is unprecedented. That in mind we really need to examine you to make sure nothing is wrong."

"But…!"

"As for the Kurosaki's you needn't worry. Isshin can definitely handle his own son, and I doubt Ichigo will really do anything to drastic." Of in the distance they saw a large black blast of reiatsu stretch across the sky. "Though I could be wrong…Still, better that you don't get involved."

Orihime shook with a mixture of emotions. "What about his sisters?!"

"Yeah boss Yuzu's over there!!" Jinta yelled.

Keigo blinked and turned to Mizuiro. "Where did he appear from?"

Ururu who was standing right next to him answered. "We were hiding in the shop while everyone was fighting, but Tessai said it was alright to come out now."

Urahara looked over in the direction of the Kurosaki clinic. He pondered it for a moment, concentrating as hard as he could without giving anything away. Then he smiled. "Right now I'd say those two are right where they need to be. Trust me, they're in no danger. Now as for you, get in the store and lie down, we need to examine you."

"Boss, what about this one?" Tessai lifted Chad up and onto his shoulder.

"Him too. As for the rest of you…" He stabbed Kon in the head with his cane and out popped the pill. He picked it up and turned to the other three. "Can one of you take this back to his stuffed animal body at Inoue-san's home? I think I'll be confiscating this gigai for a while. Otherwise I suggest all of you go home. And I'll know if you don't."

* * *

Ichigo's form was sloppy. His attacks were wild. His aim was bad. It was all too bad. Isshin would much rather have fought his son in top form. At the very least neither of them were getting hurt, and they were now high enough up that no one below, even spiritually aware, would be adversely affected by their battle. They're blades met once again. "Are you done with this yet? I really do need to get back to work." 

"Not even close!" Ichigo threw his old man back and rushed in again. Intermixed with the sword clashes they spoke to one another. "How could you lie to us like that? All of us?"

"I never lied, you never asked me if I was a Shinigami."

"You bastard…You know what I mean!!"

"You should be more specific Ichigo…It's not the kind of thing that I would just blurt out at a family meal. 'Hey kids I just wanted you to know that I used to be a god of death and that you might see some ghosts around from time to time, the only ones to worry about are the big black ones…'"

"Shut up!"

"All I ever tried to do was give each of you a normal life. It was a difficult decision to make but…"

"I don't care that you lied to me!" They managed to pause after that. "I probably would have done the same thing. As for Yuzu and Karin, well that's up to them. But you…you…How could you do that to Mom!!!" Ichigo waved his blade and a massive black blast flew from it, without prompt from the command phrase.

Isshin raised his sword and only barely managed to cut the blast in half and allow it to pass by him harmlessly. "You mother knew what I was from the first day we met."

Ichigo was frozen.

"Ichigo! Dad! Knock it off would ya!!" Karin was running through an alleyway under them, dragging a distraught Yuzu along by the arm. She stopped suddenly, gazing up at them. "Please, stop it! This is stupid!"

Yuzu looked up and yelled out as well. "Please. I don't know what's going on but this can't be right! Please stop fighting!"

Ichigo's hand and arm began to tremble, and along with them his sword. Isshin on the other hand closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He began to sheathe his sword. "What are you doing?"

"Any one who can continue to fight despite cries like that to stop is truly inhuman." Ichigo continued to shake until he sheathed his sword in the scabbard that once again appeared. "Isshin smiled and closed his eyes again. "Thank yu…"

Ichigo interrupted his father by kicking him in the side of the face. He followed through with the blow in such a way that Isshin went flying to the ground. Along the way Isshin righted himself and landed without a loud impact, but shortly thereafter dropped to one knee.

Karin and Yuzu had gasped at Ichigo's action, and as soon as they were sure he was alright Yuzu went running after their father. She collided with him and wrapped her arms around his spectral body. Karin also got moving towards him but stopped midway when she felt Ichigo land behind her. She turned and faced her brother. Both of them wore such serious faces, and the only noise was Yuzu's sobbing into her dad. Karin tensed, turned around and approached Isshin, also embracing him in a tight hug. She then turned back to Ichigo, scowling at him, and waiting for his next move.

Ichigo started walking forward, and stopped only a few steps from his family. "That last one…You deserved!"

Isshin smiled and reached a hand up and around Yuzu to feel his jaw. "Yeah, that's true. But you still shouldn't have done it in front of your sisters like that. Ohh?..."

With a thud Ichigo fell to his knees. "What you said to me, the last part, was that the truth?"

Isshin smiled. "Yep. C'mon, let's go home. I imagine I've got a lot of explaining to do.

* * *

_(Warning, gratuitous fanfiction fake backstory incoming, if you don't like it, to bad, if you do, too bad that it's fake huh? Cuz this is one thing I really want Tite to clear up, but whatever back to the story…)

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_

Once they were home Isshin jumped back into his body, prompting a question. "Hey where's your body Ichigo?"

Ichigo went wide eyed for a moment before smacking himself in the head. "I forgot it over at Inoue's. It'll have to wait I want to hear this now."

Isshin nodded. "Right then, where do I begin…It's all Kisuke's fault I guess. He went and built that blasted sphere and I was one of the people who knew about it. When I found out about what it could do I knew we had to hide it, but we had no idea how. Eventually he also stumbled upon his "drain gigai", and realized the true implications of what it could do. Shortly there after he swore not to experiment in those areas anymore, and revealed what he had found to Yama-jii-san. Of course the head captain was furious, and central 46 ordered that he be banished. Kisuke made no protest, and I choose to accompany him to the human world along with Shihoin-san. When we got here, we stayed together for a while, but eventually we drifted apart. Kisuke set up his shop, Yoruichi went off to explore the world, and I just started wandering around stealing food and slaying hollows like a vagrant, checking back in with Kisuke every now and then."

Isshin sighed. He turned towards his massive "Masaki forever" poster and smiled. "That's when I met her. She could see me you see. That didn't happen a lot, being a ghost and all. Well I was pretty surprised and it nearly got her killed cuz I was trying to fight a hollow that had attacked her. It didn't help to have some blonde chick screaming at the top of her lungs, with me being baffled by the presence of human that could see me. Eventually I cut the thing down and started barraging her with questions, most of which she answered with 'I don't know' and so eventually I just gave up on her, called her a freak and flew off."

Karin gaped. "That's how you met mom?"

He chuckled. "yeahhhh, thinking back it wasn't the way I would have wanted to meet her, but there's no changing what was right? Anyway, I met up with her a few more times after that, saving her from hollows or just falling off of awnings and the such when she would see me. We started getting more friendly, and eventually I started hanging out with her just for the fun of it. Then one day she handed me a cigarette and said 'give it a try' I smoked it, and she told me I looked cool. From that day forward I was completely head over heels for Masaki and Masaki alone. Of course a relationship was impossible between a ghost and a beautiful woman. So I went to Urahara. The gigai he has allows for what is basically resurrection, by slowly fusing with the spirit and turning it into a human. I hopped in went to find Masaki, found her, and the rest you pretty much know. I don't really feel like getting into the seedy details, I don't think the girls are old enough for that talk yet OW!!!!"

Karin had punched him from one side while Ichigo had kicked him from the other. They also simultaneously yelled out "Believe me we don't need to hear it!"

After settling down Ichigo sighed and asked "So is that why all of us can see spirits?"

Isshin massaged his jaw for the second time today and looked at his son. "That's my guess. Though I didn't know that you could until after that day when, it happened. Masaki could see them much more clearly then you Ichigo, while you could only see the grand fisher's lure, She could see the entire beast, and so while you ran to save the girl you saw, she ran to protect you from the monster she saw."

"Mom was killed by one of those monsters?!" Yuzu began to sob again.

"Yeah, a big ugly one…But you don't need to worry about it, I fought him, and I'll kill him the next time I see him."

"Actually Ichigo, I've already taken care of the grand fisher myself. I'm surprised Kon didn't tell you about that too, he was there after all. So you can rest easy, Masaki has been avenged." He took a dramatic pose before the poster and flexed. "You here that my love!!! Your honor has been protected!!!"

The deflated feeling in Karin and Ichigo wore off when Ichigo finally thought it was time to go get his body.

When he arrived Kon was the only one there, having been left behind by everyone else. Ichigo brushed off the plushy hopped into his body and started running home. He thought of Orihime along the way. He began to blush a little when he thought of the kiss. He thought about how he would talk to her tomorrow. He would have to escort her to school as usuall. And then at school what would he do? He thought of all these things and had at least a general plan of what he needed to accomplish. Of course the first thing he had decided was that he was interested in staring a relationship. And walking home he realized he was happy about that choice.

* * *

Ishida wasn't sleeping, he couldn't, not while he was being watched. _'There has been no sign of surveillance in the week that I've been here, why now, and if they have been watching me why can I sense it now? Something is different, and I'll need to check it out. Wait, could it be Karasotou? No, he has a different aura, but it is familiar, No time to wait, got to go now!'_ He tightened the grip on his zanpakuto which he had snuck into the bed. In a flash he was moving, out the window and after what he could now positively see was a person. _'You won't get away that easily!'

* * *

_

A/N: YAY! Ishida is back!! Not the went anywhere though. And look at how quickly the intrigue has picked up! He has such an interesting life.


	17. Meeting

A/N: I suppose since I've got nothing else to talk about, I'll say this. There will be a sequel to my Naruto fanfiction, which I will be working on as soon as I'm done with this fic. Now you know. Also, happy Easter.

Reviews: only 2 :(

You: I wanted to make him mad there, but I had to give him the right reasons for being mad, so I pulled at the old mom trick, I mean that is one of Ichigo's big switches after all. Anyway yur gonna need to wait a bit for ichihimeness, this chappy is all ishida.

Demon: Yeah, so did I.

* * *

Chapter 17: Meeting

Ishida sat up. He rubbed his eyes, blinked, yawned and blinked some more. His hand began to probe around for the glasses he kept on the bedside table. Once found he put them on. Next he would get up and go take a shower.

In other words Ishida was having a pretty normal day.

After the shower he got dressed in his Shinigami outfit. Not the original one he had made them but the one he had barely finished modifying last night. He smiled at it. With a scrap and a mild thud he opened the door, allowing sunlight to wash over him. It was the sun that shone over Seireitei.

He walked along the terrace which wrapped around the upper floors of many Seireitei buildings on his way to the squad eight offices. Along the way he nodded and waved, and even said hello to many of his squad mates. Most of them were examining his uniform.

He had tightened the sleeves, not only with in seaming but with white wrappings right at the wrist. Matching with these wrappings he wore white fingerless gloves. Each glove was emblazoned with a cross on the back. And on his own back there was a white pentacle. The message he gave out was clear. "I fight as one of you, but I am still a quincy."

Ishida reached the offices and sat down at his desk. Then he started to wait. There was a process taking place here. First he would arrive, then Nanao would show up wielding a random instrument of torture and head off to wake up the captain. There would be yelling (this was the que for Ishida to stretch and crack his knuckles) then Nanao would come storming out fuming forth anger and impatience, after which innumerous Shinigami would begin to run around wildly dropping papers off at everyone's desk. From then on it became a mad game, to check the paperwork to see who needed to see it, who needed to sign it, and if it was requiring of the captains personal mark, which thankfully Nanao and a few other more experienced squad members could fake.

This would last for about two hours, when things would finally start to slow down, and Ishida and the others could finally breathe and speak. A man named Kondo approached Ishida. "So Ishida-san, what's with the new outfit?"

"These marks represent my heritage, that of the noble quincy."

"Noble quincy huh? Sounds heavy. You know that man?! You are way to heavy, you need to lighten up, seriously. Why not come out with us tonight? Experience some of the lighter sides of life!"

"Ishida sighed, don't we have work tomorrow morning? How can you justify staying out late?"

"AHHHH!! It's all cool man. Captain Kyoraku sent down a schedule change no one has to come in until noon tomorrow!"

Ishida was actually surprised by that one. "When did that order go around?"

Another worker named Aoki came forward and smacked Kondo on the head with a paper roll. "Idiot, we're not supposed to talk about it so carelessly." He unrolled the paper and handed it to Ishida.

It was written in Kyoraku's handwriting and said "All squad eight members except Nanao Ise are hereby given leave until noon tomorrow beginning at five pm tonight. If any would like to join me for drinking I will be in the unit four division barracks with ample sake, but please bring your own. Under no circumstances should Nanao or other "un-trusted squad members be shown this note, but spread the word to anyone who wants to party/relax. See you there!"

Ishida looked up at his coworkers then back at the note. He placed it on his desk. "Sorry but I must decline. Minors shouldn't drink."

"Oh come on! A few drinks won't kill you, a well managed drinking habit can actually be healthy for you or so I've heard."

"Yeah man! You might even meet a chick! That would really help with lightening up that heavy personality of yours."

"Now where is it that Ishida-san might meet a woman?"

The two Shinigami spun and stood up right very nervously hiding the note behind their backs. In unison they chanted "Good afternoon Lieutenant Ise!" They followed it with a bow.

Nanao was wearing a scowl. "Yes yes good afternoon, now what was this about Ishida meeting a woman? Are you three up to something?"

Her eyes were like daggers piercing through the two conspirators, so the quickly leapt behind Ishida, hiding behind his stoic appearance. Aoki poked his head out. "We're not planning anything we were just giving some advice to our young third seat here! Honestly!"

"Totally honestly!! Everything is totally squeaky clean over here nothing to suspect of us at all so don't be so heavy kay?"

"Yeah just ask Ishida here!"

"Yeah you know he's the straightest arrow in here!"

Nanao scowled even further. Then she looked at Ishida's arms and blinked in surprise. She got closer to look at the work he had done. "Hey. You did all these alterations on your own?" Ishida nodded. "My you do excelent work. Hmmm?" She noticed a paper on his desk, and her lightning quick eyes alerted her to everything she needed to know.

Ishida knew that she had found the note. So he smiled. "Lieutenant Ise, perhaps you should go find the captain and make sure he's actually working. Afterall he is quite the slacker. I'll make sure these two and our division gets to work."

Nanao smiled and nodded. "Alright Uryu, I'll leave things here up to you." She began to walk away giving the two a false hope, just before leaving she spun and crushed that hope. "Uryu, also please make sure no one else sees that note, and I give full permission to use force in making sure everyone does their jobs according to the _proper_ schedule."

The two standing behind Ishida froze with fear. Ishida himself reached forward and ripped captain Kyoraku's note to pieces. "Sorry guys, you heard the orders."

"ISHIDA YOU TRAITOR!!"

* * *

Several hours later at the proper time to leave the eighth squads paperwork department shuffled away, aware that Nanao would be patrolling to make sure no one would be being stupid tonight and having informed them all to be on time tomorrow.

Ishida went home without talking to anyone else at length. As a seated officer he had his own quarters, something he greatly appreciated, but it also reminded him that he was still in effect, a prisoner. He had applied, and even volunteered to go on missions, both to the real world and to the edges of Rukongai where many hollows roamed.

Every time he was turned down.

Of course he knew why. Kyoraku had been decent enough to tell him the truth when he had asked. "I'm monitoring you. So is Nanao. Your Zanpakuto is unique, and in a far more ominous sense then others. Consider it limited freedom, you are given free reign to move about the squad eight barracks, and any of the other areas of Seireitei so long as you are with the tenth seat or higher. I am sorry about all this, but you know how the old man can be."

Ishida sat down and concentrated. Even if they wouldn't let him fight just yet he could still prepare for it. He could scan the entire area accurately, locating each individual dource of reiatsu no matter how minute, even the fluttering butterflies didn't escape his perception. With his senses for finding reiatsu so well mastered, he could wield his zanpakuto to it's fullest. He grabbed said weapon and released it. Since the first few times he had learned to control it, so that it would only drain targets he aimed at. He focused in on one nearby source, let the zanpakuto's effect go for a split second, and manifested the arrow. IT was weak, but he had successfully forged it without alerting the doner to his presence.

He sealed the zanpakuto and yawned. _'Stealth, good range, and a direct weakening effect on the enemy, This wepon will work well.'_

'_**Thank you'**_

Ishida shook his head. He couldn't deny the unsettling feeling that spirit gave him, but at least it didn't show itself very often.

Regardless, Ishida was getting tired. He curled up into his bed and began to nod off. But he just couldn't get all the way there.

* * *

"You know your rights. Get out of my sight but be back in that spot by sunrise."

* * *

Ishida wasn't sleeping, he couldn't, not while he was being watched. _'Besides Kyoraku's speech there has been no sign of surveillance in the week that I've been here, why now, and if they have been watching me why can I sense it now? Something is different, and I'll need to check it out. Wait, could it be Karasotou? No, he has a different aura, but it is familiar, No time to wait, got to go now!'_ He tightened the grip on his zanpakuto which he had snuck into the bed. In a flash he was moving, out the window and after what he could now positively see was a person. _'You won't get away that easily!'_

He rushed after the stalker, over buildings, under awnings, through bushes and courtyards. He was now outside of the eighth squad barracks, and he was sure Nanao and Kyoraku wouldn't be happy about it, but right now that didn't matter to him. With a quick use of shunpo he managed to get in front of the stalker. "Stop!"

The stalker grabbed his shoulders and threw him to the side with surprising force. It was surprising because Ishida had thought he was chasing a woman once he got a clearer look at her. Once he stopped sliding backwards he focused on the person and recognized them. She was looking at him more with more of a blank stare then anything else, but somewhere inside it he could see a form of sadness that was foreign to him. "sorry." She said it honestly and plainly.

Ishida lowered his guard and began to contemplate the situation. It was unfortunate, but he was no longer surprised in this situation, it seemed pretty normal actually. "Nemu-san. So I'm still being monitored by your father. And here I thought he would finally leave me alone."

Nemu's eyes drifted. "No…"

"Then why are you here?"

"Because you chased after me."

Ishida sighed harshly and asked with a bit more emphasis "Why were you watching me?"

Nemu completely looked away and didn't answer. "I should go."

Ishida quickly moved in front of her again and stared at her deeply.

Meeting those eyes, Nemu felt a bit more resolved. "I don't really know why I was watching you."

Ishida's eyes narrowed a bit more. "Your father…"

"…doesn't know I'm here." Ishida blinked and went wide eyed. He had a little trouble believing that a maniac like Kurotsuchi wouldn't have her under surveillance twenty-four-seven. She didn't meet his widened gaze. "Once a week I am given a night of leave, during which time Kurotsuchi-sama reenergizes internal batteries and makes adjustments on his biological modifications that requires unconsciousness. As such, he allows me to do as I please during those times."

Ishida blinked while he absorbed this. Half of him resonated with rage that she was so enslaved as to only receive one night off a week, but another part was making a connection. "On your night off, you came to watch me…Why?"

"I don't know." There was a long silence. Nemu finally broke it. "That night, when you fought my father. Why did you say those things about me?" Ishida was stunned again. "You had never met me before, and at the time I was your enemy. I had only moments earlier assisted my captain in delivering a paralyzing wound to your body. Why then did you try to protect me?"

Ishida thought back and became very solemn. "No one deserves to be treated that way. No one. Not me, not my grandfather, not you."

For the first time Ishida could actually see Nemu take a breath. "What if I told you I was involved with what happened to your grandfather?"

Ishida's heart picked up a bit. Images began flashing through his mind. He became filled with rage. Ishida closed his eyes and took a breath. Calmer, he looked back at her once more. "I would be angry, and I would not want to see you very much. But, as we are allies in the same army, I could hardly seek retribution. That's the only reason I haven't attacked your father." She didn't seem to react. "But even if that were true, no one deserves to be treated as horribly as you have been Nemu-san."

She took another visible breath. "I had nothing to do with that incident. Are you relieved?"

Ishida did feel his insides cool down. "I suppose, but it doesn't erase the tragedy…"

"Does it bother you that I was watching you?"

"A little, I still don't understand why you would choose to check on me on your night off, shouldn't you be doing what you normally do on your nights off?"

"Normally I simply stand still and wait for Kurotsuchi-sama to awaken. This is the first night I have ever left the squad twelve barracks on my night off."

Ishida just gawked at her. His brain was also slowly making connections. He figured he might as well get it out in the open. "Nemu-san, did you come to see me because I am the only one who has ever shown kindness to you?"

Nemu thought for a moment. "No. That doesn't make any sense. Several of the other members of the Shinigami women's association are kind to me."

Ishida sighed. "Am I the first man to have shown you kindness or compassion?"

Nemu thought again. "Yes."

Ishida leaned forward and began using his hands for emphasis. "Think hard now, what about other members of your squad, perhaps other lieutenants or Captains?"

Nemu shook her head. "Kurotsuchi-sama forbids all other squad members from talking to me, and I have standing orders to make no communication with other lieutenants during meetings, and to never draw attention from him in meetings where we must both be present."

"Please think very hard now! Are you absolutely certain?!"

Nemu mulled over it for another second. "Yes. I'm positive. You are the first male to ever show compassion towards me."

Ishida's eyes hit the ground and locked there. _'As I suspected…Nemu-san has a crush on me…' _He looked back up at her and examined her. He then quickly turned away. '_So…how to deal with this situation. I suppose the right thing to do is…well then again maybe not…calm down Uryu, I'll make a list. First of all she is very pretty, but that shouldn't be important in this sort of decision, so I'll ignore that for now, then firstly, she is _his_ daughter, effectively at any rate, however it is common for men to oppose the parents of the women they court…Secondly her judgment cannot be trusted as she has had very little option for choice, her sheltered lifestyle and over controlling maniac of a father have effectively kept her options in terms of romance at zero, I exist as a breach in that man's fortification of solitude and represent little more then the first option Nemu-san has ever been presented with, not really the one she would most likely be naturally inclined to show an interest in…Despite this, Nemu has lived an almost completely isolated life with minimal humane contact, can I in good conscience deny her the chance to feel at least some connection with another human being? And that raises further questions about the humanity of Nemu-san, I have always taken to treating her decently simply because she appears to be human at first glance, but if what I heard about her creation is accurate then is she really human? Is Kon? I openly mistreat him…but he deserves it anyway for his horrible attitude, Nemu-san is very kind when she is not submitted to her father's will, then it is her actions that make her human enough to deserve humane treatment…'_

"Um, Ishida-san?"

Shaken from his extensive thinking Ishida spun and looked at Nemu. He sighed, having finally come to a decision. "You may call me Uryu, I think we are good enough friends for that."

"Friends?"

"Indeed." He adjusted his glasses. "Nemu-san, tell me, what do you enjoy doing?"

"Me? I don't really do much. I just stare at the stars mostly during my nights off."

Ishida nodded. "Then I would be glad to view the stars with you."

Nemu shook her head. This gained an immediate negative reaction from Ishida. "I apologize, but I must return. It is necessary that I am present when my father awakens from his recharging session."

"Oh…Right…of course."

"But…next week, could we stare at the sky? I think, I would like that very much."

Ishida looked at her right in the eyes, and also noted the tiny smile that was gracing her lips. "Yes. Of course."

After that they parted, with Ishida going straight back to his chambers.

* * *

The next day at work everyone questioned what Ishida had been doing all night, as he was, to his coworkers anger, the only one who had managed to come into work exhausted.

Nanao in particular felt betrayed, as she had trusted him enough not to check and make sure he wasn't staying up like everyone else had been planning to.

* * *

A/N: This was some of the weirdest fluff I've had to write. I think it fit their characters well.


	18. Just a Day

A/N: Special Easter double update. That's right folks. You lucky ducks. Errr Rabits. That lay eggs…And why is the day that he died called "good" Friday? You know what never mind I'm not getting into it. Just read the freakin fic and have a lovely easter.

Reviews:

All three of you: Thanks. As for why I'm responding to all three of you at once, it's cuz you more or less said the exact same things. So thanks. And yes, that chap was one of the first I had planned in my head. It was actually just for that that I wanted a fic with a dead Ishida. After that it grew into this whole thing about shiniguincy and Menboku and Ichihime (which wasn't in the original drafts, but felt necessary when I saw the sheer lack of Ichihime on ff). One key point I need to make is that Ishida wishes to spend time with Nemu more out of a sense of pity on her right now. To him she deserves at least some human contact, and it might as well be him.

* * *

Chapter 18: Just a day

"Good morning Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime was unusually perky today, which was saying a lot for Orihime. She then noticed everyone else was there too and began to wave politely. "Oh hello Asano-kun, Kojima-kun."

Keigo leapt forward. "Why is it that only Ichigo gets a good morning, you want my morning to be terrible don't you!?"

Orihime began waving her arms and denying any malcontent while Chad appeared behind her. Ichigo took note of his presence. "Hey Chad. How are you?"

"Fine."

"And what about your arms?"

Even Keigo shut up to here the answer to this one. Chad looked down at his right hand and squeezed it. "Fine." He started walking along.

Keigo leaned in next to Orihime and said "What's wrong with him?"

Orihime pulled Keigo in close with Ichigo and Mizuiro so would only need to say it once. "Sado-kun's powers were returned when my rejection field hit everyone yesterday, but they are still very unstable, and Urahara-san advised him not to use them unless it was an emergency."

Ichigo took a few steps forward. "Hey Chad!" Chad stopped. "So why do you have those big arms anyway?!"

Chad turned and looked at the group, but mostly Ichigo. "To protect people." He started walking again.

Ichigo smirked. "He'll be fine. C'mon we can't be late again or we'll never hear the end of it."

* * *

Ishida knew when people were hiding things from him. He could just tell when a person was lying. And the people in his squad were definitely hiding something from him.

"Jerk…" They weren't hiding the fact that they were angry at him. They all had some strange notion that after helping to cancel the captain's party last night he had betrayed them all by going out and partying on his own, which wasn't true but none of them would believe him because he wouldn't tell them what had really happened.

Anger aside, they were definitely hiding something from him. He was receiving far less paperwork then usuall, and when they did give him documents to go through they were unusually picky about which ones he got. Fed up with the blatant secrecy he stood up walked over to Aoki's desk and picked up a stack of papers. "I'll handle these, I've gone through my own stuff already."

Sure enough Aoki tried to stop him, assuring his suspicions. He grabbed a packet off the top and skimmed it for key words. "assign…human world…assessment…Karakura. Aoki-san, would you mind telling me what is going on in Karakura town right now?" His eyes were still on the paper and he noticed something else. "And why is there a crudely drawn picture of me with an X through it on this paper?"

"Ehehehe, well we were given a roll of these stickers." He noticed that Ishida seemed ready to explode at any given moment. "Don't hurt me!! Just read that document!" Ishida indeed began to read through it with more detail. "That's an assignment listing for squad 13, something went down in that town yesterday and the 1st division sent down orders to get some of our guys over there to figure out what's going on. We were told not to let you know because you would probably…overreact." Ishida was gone, as was the list.

* * *

_RIIIIIIIINNNNGGG_

"Alright lunchtime everyone!" The teacher bolted to the door and was gone.

Everyone began standing up or pulling out lunches to eat right in the classroom. Orihime looked around. She had noticed early on that Tatsuki was absent today, and it bothered her a bit. It became especially troublesome when Chizuru snuck up behind her and gripped her around the waist in a tight hug. "OOOHHH My hime-chan!! There's no nasty Tatsuki to get in between us today Lets eat lunch just the two of us!!"

Orihime squirmed trying to get out of the uncomfortable grip when she felt someone grab her hand. Chizuru also froze. "Let go."

Chizuru let go and backed away. "I-I-Ichigo?"

Ichigo had given Chizuru an incredibly threatening gaze, but when it turned back to Orihime it softened, if only slightly. "Your eating lunch with me today."

It was the kind of sentence that even when spoken it clearly ended with a period. She simply nodded and followed Ichigo out of the room. Chizuru looked at the whole situation with horror, and then began to break down into tears, screaming some nonsense about her Orihime being taken in by the horror that is men.

* * *

Up on the roof there was a single person staring at Orihime. Though he was not staring in an admiring way. Eventually he decided to speak. "Why is there a woman in our lunchtime circle of men?"

Ichigo took a bite and began talking at the same time. "Since when is it a lunchtime circle of men?"

Keigo shot up to his feet. "Well since when have we ever had a girl up here? I thought it was unspoken understanding! Just like how we never go sit under the trees."

"I didn't know that, besides having Orihime here is a nice change of pace Asano-san."

"AHHHHH!! Chad back me up here!!"

Chad simply ate. He didn't respond.

"Really Asano-san sit down and eat, why is it such a problem for Ichigo to be eating lunch with his girlfriend?"

There was a pause. "G-G-G-G-Girlfriend?! Since when would the beautiful Orihime-chan be going out with a grumpy mean stick in the mud like Ichigo?!"

Mizuiro actually looked up at Keigo for that one. "Are you serious?! You didn't see the kissing yesterday?"

Keigo was frozen. "When?!"

"After he rescued her, before they floated back down!"

"Ohhhhh they were kissing. My contacts fell out during the battle so I couldn't see anything except a black and orange blob. WAIT SERIOUSLY!! Ichigo has a girlfriend before me!! This cannot be! I must go ask a girl out immediately!" Keigo simply ran off the roof back into the building.

Ichigo blinked. He then began to imagine how many bruises Keigo would have by the time he got back. Then he noticed that Orihime was holding something up to him. "Here, try it!"

Ichigo blinked again. He reached and grabbed it. He couldn't tell what it was, but the way she was looking at him made him really want to eat it. He put it in it's mouth and began to chew. It was a bit spicy, but had a good flavor overall. "That was good, what was it?"

"Wasabi Cake! All I really do is put some wasabi on a piece of coconut cake!"

The sheer thought of having eaten that made Ichigo a little sick, but he over came that when she offered him another bite, and he decided it tasted good enough so why not.

Mizuiro smiled as he watched them. "Yeah you two definitely make a good couple.

* * *

Ishida threw the papers down at Kyoraku's feet. "How much do you know?"

"It wasn't Aizen. No serious injuries. That's about all there is to report on the matter."

"How about who was responsible?"

"We know that it wasn't hollows, but we aren't able to conclude if at this time is was Shinigami or not. Listen Uryu, keeping the information from you was Nanao's idea, I had no idea until she woke me up this morning what was going on. By the way tell her that when using the pan she doesn't actually need to put it over my head."

"You should be able to get yourself up. And If Shinigami are being sent in to Karakura why haven't I been approached? No one here knows the city better then I do!"

"Which would be useful in a combat situation, this is just an investigation team. If it comes down to combat I'll recommend you without a doubt. Now then, go take some advice from Kondo, lighten up, relax, maybe drink a little."

"Minors shouldn't drink!" Ishida stood up and speaking much more calmly he said "Thank you, for your honesty in this situation. I appreciate the freedom you have given me in this time."

"Not a _yaaawwnnnnnn_ problem."

* * *

Keigo had received 3 slaps on his quest for a date. This coincided with him asking only four girls. To everyone's immense surprise (even Keigo's) Mahana Natsui had agreed to go out with him. After Keigo had run off she informed the other girls that she only really wanted to try a date for once and she didn't have plans anyway so why not let him pay for a good meal?

Keigo walked away from school with Mahana close behind. Mizuiro departed, saying he had a date with his girlfriend that night. Chad walked away, mentioning the band was getting together for some practice. A drop of sweat formed on Ichigo's brow. "Ummmmm, In…Orihime, you want to maybe go see a movie or…"

She grabbed his arm and started walking, dragging him along. "I'd love to! There's this movie that's playing right now that I really want to see but it looks so scary that I haven't been able to get the courage to go in alone! It's weird that movies still frighten me considering all the scary things we've dealt with! Don't you think Kurogo-san?"

"Kurogo-san?"

"Oh I'm sorry I was going to call you Kurosaki-kun like usuall but then I thought I should call you Ichigo since you were using my first name and the two got smushed together and I realized I was saying the name of someone I didn't know so I thought I should say it politely! Ehehehehehehehe"

It was weird, but they started walking again. For some reason, knowing that the other was nervous was making them both a little more comfortable.

* * *

Punch. Punch. Punch.

"It's not enough."

Kick. Kick. Kick.

"It's not enough!"

Punch. Punch. Punch. Kick. Kick. Kick.

"IT'S NOT ENOUGH!" She kicked the bag right off the chains that attached it to the ceiling. She was breathing a little heavier. _'I've gotten so much stronger. All to try and help. To help find Orihime. To fight enemies. I want to help! I want to be involved in my friend's life, not just stuck on the sidelines! But!'_ She kneeled. _'I was beaten so easily…By the weakest enemy…Even that plushy…Kon…'_

* * *

Kon, still stuck in his stuffed animal form and assigned to cleaning Orihime's house was enjoying a break sleeping in Orihime's bed. He rolled over and mumbled. He didn't open his eyes fast enough to see who grabbed him and stuffed him into a backpack. When he was finally let out he tried to scream but a hand was reaching into his throat making it impossible. When the hand left the doll it gripped the pill that was his soul.

Kon was then quickly and violently pushed into his gigai, and awoke within it to see that he was in the underground training room. "Huh? Wha? What's going on? Tatsuki?" What are you doing here? What am I doing here?!"

Tatsuki looked at him then turned and walked away a few steps. "I got permission from Urahara-san. From now on, in order to further evolve my powers, I need to train against an opponent at the next level. And right now, that's you. So you are going to fight me until I can fight evenly with you."

Now on his feet Kon scratched his head. "Right…and why would I do that?"

"Because if you don't Urahara's gonna burn that gigai." She had his attention now. "So as long as you agree to spar with me, you can hang out in your body, got it?"

"How long do we have to spar?"

"Until I can't stand anymore!" She rushed him, forming her armored bracers and anklets along the way.

Kon quickly began to dodge her attacks, and he eventually decided that he wanted this to end so he moved around her and kicked her in the back. She stumbled but quickly moved back in for more attacks. "What's the big deal about being able to fight anyway? Battles are overrated, you get hurt, you get tired, and worst of all you have to hurt other people, it's seriously not fun at all."

"It's not about fun you idiot! It's about protecting people! They would all die to save me…I need to be willing to do the same. You wouldn't understand, you only fought the other day for some stupid nonexistent reward."

He caught her fist with the bottom of his foot and drove it straight down into the ground. Standing on her hand he had her stuck. "Life isn't something that should be taken by others." It was probably the most serious thing she had ever heard him say.

He leapt away and landed on a rock looking into the artificial horizon. "That's what I said to Ichigo the day I met him. It's what convinced him to let me live. Gahhhhh!! I don't like being serious all the time, I just wanted to have fun! Hop about, eat some good food, maybe get a girl or two or three! But everyone in this town is so serious. It's always battle this, protect that, understand all of those things and prepare for some insidious them that's coming to get us! And that shopkeeper's the worst one! Always giving people all these great powers, but oh wait there's a catch, now you have to fight off shadow monsters that want to eat your soul for the rest of your life and help me in my personal war against the apocalypse, which by the way is all his fault! That guys a jerk. I made it plain and clear that eventually I would use this body for my own purposes, to live a life without all that pressure. I don't want to have to fight! I don't want to have to train!"

"What are you saying!"

"Why do you want to fight?!"

Tatsuki concentrated trying to find her reasons again. She had just said them a minute ago. "I already told you I don't want to be left behind again. I only have a few friends, and their all so amazing, but I can't keep up with them. I'm falling behind, I'm losing them…Pretty soon I just know I'll be nothing compared to them."

"Huh? Is that what friendship is? Some kind of race? I may not have had a whole lot of worldly experience but if friends abandon each other based on their strength they were never your friends to begin with. Trust me. Ichigo and Orihime-chan don't care in the least that you can't fight, I've lived with him long enough to know that's not important to him."

"I don't want him to need to protect me."

Kon had been approaching her and he kicked some dust up in her face. "Are you stupid or something?!" She gawked at him. "Being worried about is good. At least it means someone cares. Like yesterday, when you saved me from that crazy bug lady."

"I was just returning the favor. Thinking back your fighting seems really familiar."

"Well yeah remember the day I met all of you when I was in Ichigo's body and I made a bit of a scene in the classroom…Oh yeah, Rukia-nee-san erased that memory."

"Wait a minute, did you kiss me?"

"Yep, you remembered that?"

There was a pause. "YOU'RE DEAD!!"

She began to run after him at full speed smashing rocks between them as she went, rather then leap over them.

Kon kept ahead of her and even through back a jab saying "Well if you're that desperate for another kiss you could just ask!"

Far above them, watching through a small square hole and listening were two individuals. Kisuke fanned himself and started talking. "Well at any rate she should be faster at the end of her training session."

Yoruichi looked at him with a sullen face. "What do you think about what Kon said about you?"

Kisuke continued to fan himself. "He's absolutely right. On every point too. And after this is all over and done with I'll make sure to pay penance somehow. I'm not sure how yet though, maybe a few hundred years of exile in Hueco Mundo will balance out my karma. Or get me eaten, definitely one of the two."

"Hueco Mundo eh? That's a horrible place for a cat you know. You should pick somewhere a little better."

"Yoruichi…"

"You shut up right there Kisuke. I've stuck with you this long if you think I'm ducking out just because you owe the universe a few favors you're dead wrong."

"But that wouldn't be fair to the universe. After all, wherever you are is automatically a paradise."

"Oh I think you're quite mistaken. I can make things pretty bad if I felt like it."

"Somehow that still sounds quite enjoyable." She punched him in the face, putting a fist sized hole in his fan as she did. Mumbling, as her fist was embedded in his face, Urahara managed to say "or not…"

* * *

A/N: I feel that Kon is a little jipped as a character. I mean when he first shows up he has this serious philosophical side to him, but five minutes later that's completely forgotten in order to get comic relief out of his eye for panty shots and cowardice. I wanted to try to throw back to that two or so episodes when Kon was more then just a one dimensional punching bag. Next chapter might be the lemon I promised. But no promises. And I promise it won't be tomorrow.


	19. Rain

A/N: It's a long one, well for some of you, or more likely most of you. Here it is, the lemon. Now for those (few) of you that are reading this for something other then a sex scene, let me just say that you are safe. The lemon is clearly marked and takes up the second half of the fic, so everything up to that is clean. It is in fact quite a bit of fuffy waff, or waffy fluff. Any way no set date for the next chapter, as usual. I'm surprised you guys keep coming back. But please do keep coming back.

Reviews:

Swift: Spelling errors aside I think I got the message. I've never seen any romantic interest in Orihime from Ishida, he's just gentlemanly to her. So that pair is just meh to me. As for Sozo's group, yeah, they'll be back shortly.

Mlkool: I'm glad you enjoyed them.

Engel: In making Karasotou I wanted him to be Ishida, but with all the cards and a slight joy in dangling them in front of Ishida's face.

* * *

Chapter 19: Rain

Ichigo yawned. This movie was not scary at all, at least not from his point of view. Sure there was a creepy looking kid with really pasty skin popping in out of places in tandem with blinking lights, but he had seen, killed, and nearly been killed by, things much bigger, scarier, uglier, and more threatening then her. She didn't even have a sword to slice people up with. So he yawned again and looked to Orihime sitting next to him. To his surprise she looked terrified. Her eyes were locked wide open and her hands were clasped up in front of her face. He silently sighed in the other direction and started looking around the theatre out of boredom when for the hundredth time that evening his eyes were drawn to a specific pair of movie goers that had been successfully ruining any enjoyment the movie might have brought him.

It was a boy and a girl, presumably out on a date not unlike himself, but unlike Orihime the girl of the two was openly and very loudly terrified of the movie, to the point of screaming when a mild gasp would have been more appropriate and at one point trying to give the female lead some advice. Perhaps worsening the situation was the fact that her date would not simply try to calm her down, but do so in some very idiotic ways. The most blatantly horrible method he had decided on was to disclose the ending of the movie, having seen it before.

Orihime had apparently not noticed this outburst, and Ichigo didn't really care, but quite a few other movie patrons were rather upset.

As Ichigo came very close to nodding off it apparently reached a very scary point in the film, as Orihime's hand suddenly shot to the side and she grabbed hold of Ichigo's arm. She pulled it into her chest while her yes remained glued forward. Ichigo didn't react noticeably, but in his head he waged a war against certain reactions, as every molecule in his hormone driven brain locked onto to the female anatomy that was pressed up against his arm. After a few moments Orihime began to loosen her grip and apologize for her outburst. Ichigo rapidly shook his head, assuring her that he "didn't mind at all." which was true.

For the first time since the end of the previews Orihime looked away from the screen and up at Ichigo. "You mean it? You're really ok with being out on a date like this with me?"

Ichigo glanced at her face and those big eyes before turning back to the screen. "Yeah, I mean I'm the one who asked you out right?"

She smiled and laid the side of her head against his shoulder. Her smile faded though and she softly asked the air in front of her. "Are you here because you pity me?"

He looked back down at her, prompting her to look up at him. "No…" The both of them began to lean in.

Just before they made contact something terrifying must have happened because the girl a few rows up was at it again. The shock made them both suddenly aware of their proximity, and the moment was gone.

Shortly after that mall security came in and escorted the two noise makers out of the theatre, earning a bit of applause from the audience, followed by a very loud shrieking violin noise from the movie that meant something was happening. Orihime had turned back to the movie, so Ichigo did the same. He noticed however that his mind's eye was much more preoccupied with images of Orihime's lips, and other certain body parts which made him blush in shame.

She was still griping his arm though. Her grip was tight. Ichigo shifted his arm a bit and he felt her loosen. He quickly turned toward her and whispered. "It's ok, I just needed to stretch it a bit that's all. It's actually kinda nice having you there."

She smiled up at him as her arm tightened again. "Thank you, Ichigo. I like this too."

The moment was back, and this time it would be perfect. They leaned in, taking what seemed like forever, but at the same time it went very quickly. Their second kiss went a bit differently then their first. Besides not flying in the sky and one of them being in spirit form, this one lasted longer, was much smoother, and Orihime noticed a great deal more enthusiasm coming from Ichigo. She couldn't help but respond in kind, so she parted her lips gently and licked at Ichigo's.

The new sensation actually shocked Ichigo and he backed his face away just an inch. The kiss broke and they exhaled heated breath into each other's faces. Orihime's face wore a glowing smile. "Was I going to fast?"

Ichigo swallowed hard. He didn't know exactly how to respond to that. As far as he was concerned a woman should not be asking him that. He reached his other arm up and around and took hold of her shoulder. He mentally prepared himself trying to figure out how to do this thing with his tongue. He then remembered that he sucked at thinking ahead, and should just wing it like he was good at.

Once more they kissed and once more Ichigo was showing an increased enthusiasm that Orihime loved. Within moments their tongues were sliding past and along the others. Finally it was Orihime who pushed away and took a breath. Rather then kiss him again she choose to push herself into his chest and nuzzle against him with her head. After a few moments of staring wide eyed into the dark theatre walls Ichigo kissed her forehead and turned back towards the movie. He still didn't think it was scary, but he really didn't care.

* * *

Outside the theatre Mahana looked at the ground upset. Next to her was an equally upset, but infinitely more depressed Keigo. "Hey sorry about that whole mess."

She sighed. "It's all my fault, I shouldn't have let suggest a movie, I can't watch those thing in theatres cuz I don't know how to shut up. Still it was pretty funny how you stood up for me, I mean you even came out of the theatre with me! That's something the other girls didn't do with me. As far as I'm concerned this is the best Movie I've ever seen!"

Keigo immediately perked up as well. "Then remember, it was Keigo Asano that made this otherwise mediocre day wonderful beyond your wildest dreams!"

She sighed a bit at his over the top antics, which were made all the worse by his pose. Suddenly something cool hit her head, drawing her attention up into the very dark black sky. "Hey Keigo-kun! The forecast said it was only supposed to drizzle a little bit after midnight right?"

Keigo looked around. "Maybe, I don't really watch the news; my sister just yells at me if there is going to be any really bad weather."

Mahana sighed again walked over and grabbed his head to make look straight up. "Well could you tell me what that looks like to you."

"He blinked at the sky and moments later a drop of water landed right above his eye. "Hey, I think it's going to rain very badly soon." No sooner then he said this a steady fall of droplets began to pick up forcing them to duck under a nearby awning. Keigo examined Mahana and noted her clothes. They had not changed into casual clothes before coming here, so they were still in their school uniforms. Despite being meant for the colder winter months, they were a far cry from waterproof. He sighed to himself and began to pull off his jacket. "Here, hold this over yourself to keep dry on the way back to your home."

She looked at him. "But Keigo…"

"No-no-no I insist it's the gentlemanly thing to do and I am most certainly a gentlemen of the highest caliber."

Mahana smiled. "That's sweet, but we're standing outside a store that sells umbrellas, and I wouldn't mind paying for one."

Keigo's face distorted itself in shock, and he slid his sweater back on and immediately shifted to itching the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess we could do that."

* * *

Ishida was meditating. He breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth. "Hello Ishida."

His eyes shot open. He had hoped for this to happen, he just hadn't thought it would so quickly. "So, you finally answered my call."

"Get over your self." The three little crows standing before Ishida were speaking in unison, giving it an eerie resonating effect. "I don't answer calls, I just saw that you were available and dropped in for a chat."

Ishida glared at the spirit. "Would you answer a question?"

"Maybe, though it's not what I had in mind."

"Are you physically there before me, or just a spiritual manifestation that only I can see?"

The three birds let out separate asynchronous laughs. "Wrong question, you can't keep the real one from me Ishida. Haven't I told you not to patronize me?"

Ishida took a deep breath to prepare for this next question. "Is there any chance that I may be approaching Bankai?"

"Yes. But don't get to hopeful. You should know how I like to work by now right? You'll get it when I give it to you. And I need to know that I can trust you with it first. Don't try any funny methods, like your friend Kurosaki did to bring me about faster. You already have the same potential as him and I don't need some doll to test you. Your test will come later, when the time is right. Until then I have a favor to ask of you. Stay away from those whose name is Kurotsuchi."

Ishida blinked. "Why would that matter to you?"

"You don't know? The first day you activated my Shikai Nemu Kurotsuchi was right there, but you didn't drain away her reiatsu for an arrow, no you waited until Ganju came out. Somehow that woman is immune to my power! That woman is nothing more then a spy sent by Mayuri, and you can't win against someone like her. I'd also be willing to bet that Mayuri has the same resistance, so if he moves against you, you're dead."

Quite suddenly Ishida was surrounded by a flock of crows that filled the entire room. "DON'T BE FOOLISH!" Just as suddenly they all vanished, leaving behind nothing but a single black feather.

Uryu picked it up and sighed. "Why can't things ever be simpler?"

* * *

Ichigo and Orihime were standing outside of theatre, having greatly enjoyed the ending of the movie, more from the others company then anything else, but all the enjoyment seemed gone now that they were outside. In the rain. They were standing back under an awning so they weren't wet, but Orihime noticed an immediate change in Ichigo's demeanor. He seemed captivated by the rain, but not at all in a good way. It was beginning to worry her. "Ichigo-kun?"

Ichigo didn't respond at first. Instead he stepped out into the rain, allowing it to pelt him with drop after drop. "I get it." I flurry of images went through his mind. "You remind me of my mother."

Orihime brought he hand up to her face on instinct, but she found no words at that moment. However Ichigo wasn't moving it all, so she had to do something. "Ichigo-kun?"

He glanced at her, but quickly turned away, trying not to remember that day. But it was all that surfaced in his mind. Something was wrong though. In this memory he wasn't a kid. And his mother was younger. And the thing standing over her was…He couldn't quite tell it might have been some normal hollow, or a Shinigami. The more the images flashed before him the more he realized what was going on. He was seeing Orihime dead, killed by some enemy. And he was powerless to stop it. The only thing he could feel was rain falling on him.

Then it all stopped, a blue sky opened above him and the rain stopped hitting him, even though he could still hear it all around. It suddenly came to his attention that this sky had several thin metal bars holding it up. HE turned around and saw that the sky above his head was actually a light blue umbrella being held up by Orihime. She was holding it out over his head, so the rain was falling on her instead. "Orihime…"

"It's ok, really I don't mind. The rain doesn't bother me at all. I used to believe that the rain was the only thing that ever linked the earth and the sky, without rain the two would never touch." She looked up into the black sky. "I always wished I could be like that. Able to bind to things together. Silly isn't it. Mph!" Ichigo's arms wrapped around her and his lips collided with hers.

When they parted he didn't give her even a moment to look at his face, instead just placing his head above and to the side of her own. She blushed but buried her self in his chest, both to hide it and simply because she wanted to.

Eventually they began walking, never straying far from each other, that way they could stay under the same sky blue umbrella.

* * *

Orihime's house was on the way to Urahara's so they decided to stop by it so they could dry off some and drink some tea for warmth. As soon as they were inside Ichigo took a look around for Kon, who was nowhere to be found. Orihime quickly brewed up some tea and turned on the heater. When she brought the tea to the table Ichigo was already there with towels from the bathroom, one of which he had already used to dry himself off, though his clothes were still pretty wet.

After they both took a few sips of tea in relative silence, Orihime began to blush heavily, prompting a curious look from Ichigo. She decided to say what was moving though her head. "You can undress and dry your clothes if it would make you more comfortable."

Ichigo very nearly spit out the tea in his mouth, but managed to hold it in and hastily swallow. "Th-th-that's ok. I'll be fine. Really."

Orihime smiled nervously and nodded. "Right. Sorry." A few minutes later she sighed and blurted out something else that was on her mind. "Do I really remind you of your mother? No-nevermind you don't need to answer that."

There was a short silence before Ichigo finally said something. "Yes." Orihime's eyeshot up and locked on to Ichigo, and she was surprised to see his face. "She was always so nice. Kind. And she was always smiling, she would congratulate us for everything, and none of us ever felt jealous when she would pay attention to the others, we all just felt so happy when she would get back to us. I never felt, like she was forcing me into anything, I just wanted to succeed for her, I wanted to protect her, and you…" Ichigo was smiling, very faintly, that was what surprised Orihime so much. And then what he said made her start to tear up.

Orihime rapidly shook her head and took a few deep breaths. "Ichigo-kun, I can't be your mother…" Ichigo was about to say something but Orihime continued right on with her own statement. "But I want to be something to you. I can be your friend, your nakama, I can be your girlfriend, I can even see myself as your lover."

There was a pause. During this pause neither said anything. Even the rain seemed to have stopped outside. Ichigo finally blinked and could only ask "What was that last part?"

Orihime looked up at him with an intense blush and unsure eyes. She stood up shakily, her eyes never separating from Ichigo's. She slowly walked around the table until she was standing right in front of Ichigo. Then she just stood there. For a long time.

Ichigo was about to react when she practically leapt at hime, toppling him over onto his back and landing on top of him with her arms around his neck. Her face was burrowed into his chest just beneath the shoulder. She seemed to be crying and mumbling something into him that he couldn't quite make out. He grabbed her sides and lifted her just slightly off of his body and he could finally make out the message. "I love you, Ichigo!"

He dropped her back into him and she tightened the hug around him. Of course he had figured as much, but it still hit him hard once he heard it. He finally had to admit it to himself, and not just subconsciously. "Orihime, I…I love you to ok?"

She shivered and sobbed in his arms, which were now wrapped around her. She lifted her head slightly and even though it was uncomfortable they could see each other. With what was one of the most resolute faces Ichigo had ever seen Orihime made a simple demand. "Prove it."

Ichigo froze up for a second. In that time Orihime slid up on his body, bringing herself face to face with him. She began to kiss him intensely. But what really got Ichigo's attention were her hands, which were moving down, and then under his sweater and shirt. He pushed her away and looked into her eyes. They looked back at him with absolute certainty.

But Orihime saw doubt in him, worry and doubt. "I could never regret it Ichigo, not you. And I will be safe."

He sputtered a bit with what he could say. "Aren't we I don't know too young?"

She actually giggled when he said this. "That hasn't stopped other people in our class." She actually began listing off a few names.

Ichigo had to interrupt after she said one in particular. "Mizuiro?!"

Orihime covered her mouth and sat up on Ichigo's lap. "Oops, umm that's confidential, one of the girls found out about it and he swore us to secrecy!"

Ichigo started scratching his head and leaning up on his elbows. "Well I guess it doesn't surprise me that much, all those older girlfriends."

He looked back up at Orihime who was still staring at him, with an odd smile on her face. "Well? Is it ok then?"

Once more Ichigo was caught. He sat up, placing him at eye level with Orihime due to his superior height. "Orihime…Yeah…Alright…" They kissed again.

* * *

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* * *

The two of them were standing in front of her bed. Looking at it. Frozen. Ichigo scratched his head. _'Damn this is awkward.'_

Orihime clapped and reached for the bottom of her sweater. "Well let's get started." She pulled it all right off, shirt and everything. The only thing covering her from the waist up was now a blue bra. She glanced at Ichigo curiously and saw that he had completely locked his eyes on the bed, shyly avoiding gazing at her. She giggled a bit. "Yoruichi-san was right, you're so shy!"

He immediately faced her and got in her face. "I-I-I am not shy!" As he said this his eyes drifted downward and he caught what can only be described as a complete eyeful of her chest. He then glanced back up to her eyes and turned away from her, blushing. "I just happen to have a strong sense of modesty."

"Well that's ok, but…" she wrapped her arms around him and pushed her self into his chest, looking up at him. "We're going to have sex, so it's ok for you to look at me, and even touch me…"

Ichigo felt his lungs becoming tighter. _'Stop over thinking!'_ He held her close and kissed her again, the only thought being as long as he was doing that he wasn't screwing up. Soon he felt her hands on his bare chest, pushing up the clothing. He let go of her both with his hands and his lips and allowed the clothes to be removed.

Something happened then inside him, and even Orihime noticed his increase in movement. He locked lips with her again and immediately put his hands on her hips. He grabbed the top of her skirt and carefully started to slide it down, making sure not to take her panties too, a part of him was still taking things slowly. Dropped it and it fell to the ground around her ankles.

She smiled into the kiss and took the next step, reaching down for his pants. She grabbed the belt and undid it. Then the button and the zipper. With no resistance they fell to the floor.

They stopped kissing and Ichigo took a breath. Orihime began to reach around her back to undo the bra clasp. Once it was done, she put her arms forward, and with an almost unnoticeable hesitation, it slid away from her.

'_damn…they are big…'_

"I-Ichigo, are you going to…" He stepped forward and kissed her again. She backed away and sat down on the bed. Ichigo followed her as close as he could, crawling on the bed after her as she positioned herself under him. Once they were aligned and they were kissing again he slid one hand under the small of her back, and the other slid up her side and then settled around her breast. He squeezed it gently and noted the reaction in their kiss. He pushed and pulled gently and rubbed it with his fingers, and he relished the way her body moved with his, the way her voice was trying to sound through their connected lips. When one of those necessary breathing breaks finally happened she said his name, but with a heavy tone to it. The sound made Ichigo shiver with anticipation.

The shiver traveled down Ichigo's body, right into what at this point was his fully erect manhood. They had both been absorbed in the moment so thoroughly that they had paid it almost no mind, but their crotches were almost aligned. What little clothing they both retained had dulled down the sensations, but finally their anatomies begged for their attention. Ichigo sat up on his knees and broke the kiss only by an inch, gazing into her eyes. Thy held the same absolutely resolute sheen as before, only now the lids half obscured them.

Ichigo reached down and slid his boxers off. Orihime's eyes widened and she pushed him off of her. Blinking with confusion Ichigo wondered what he had done wrong. Orihime didn't say anything instead just going over to a closet where she moved some things around and then closed it. She turned back and moved to hand something to Ichigo. He knew it was a condom. While Ihigo concentrated on putting the rubber on Orihime slid her panties off.

When Ichigo was done and he looked up at her completely nude form he gaped for a second before asking "So, how do you want…?"

She put her knees on the mattress, one on each side of Ichigo's legs. She shuffled forward until she was right against Ichigo, with her hands on his shoulders and her womanhood right above his…_ 'no don't run out of courage now!'_

Two hands grabbed her hips and helped ease her down. "Orihime…" The voice drew her eyes upward, and when she was no longer looking down there she forgot about it for a second. In that second her body dropped a bit more, and something started to slide into her. She gritted her teeth, now remembering what was going on and being glad that it was.

Ichigo was losing himself, as inch by inch his manhood slid between her wet folds. He grunted out her name at the halfway point, and shortly after that he noticed a tight spot that he overcame with another small thrust. Immediately afterward he remembered what that would be. Sure enough, Orihime had yelped and was now hiding her head over his shoulder. Her movements told him she was breathing hard to try and snuff out pain. He had no idea what to say or do, so he didn't do anything, he just held her still for a moment.

She figured that he knew what was going on, and once the pain had died down enough she pushed herself so that they were facing again. "Thank you, Ichigo…For everything…"

He nodded, and they both moved together for one more kiss. In the midst of it, Orihime rolled her hips, sighing and moaning her way away from his face, not that he complained. He was to busy doing pretty much the same thing. His hands shot down and wrapped around her ass cheeks. He lifted her, assisted by her legs and then brought her back down, assisted by gravity and his own upward thrusting.

All He could do was breathe as they repeated this action over and over again, and within a few thrusts they become faster and shallower. After that Orihime kissed Ichigo. The kissing became frantic and fast paced. Ichigo deviated from her lips to her chin, and then he moved along her jaw to her neck.

"Ichigo…"

After attending to her neck he continued to move down, even bringing a hand up. The hand found her breast and began to message it. But more importantly it lifted the mound up slightly, for what Ichigo really wanted to do. His mouth latched onto her flesh and he began to suck on it. Orihime's back arched out of shock, and her hips began to move back and forth, grinding against Ichigo's length inside her.

'_Dear god the noises she makes…'_ Ichigo kept right on sucking, mixing it with a few minor thrusts of his own which increased the friction even more.

Orihime finally brought her head back forward and looked down at Ichigo. "Ichigo…" He didn't appear to have heard her, or maybe he just didn't get it. She took a hand away from his back and calmed down her grinding. With that hand she grabbed her own breast and began to lift it up. Ichigo followed the rising boob, partly out of a desire to keep on sucking it, but more out of curiousity. His eyes opened, and then he went through something strange but amazing. Orihime actually brought her tit al the way up to her tilted face, and she began to suck on Ichigo's upper lip, practically prying him away from her cleavage and binding him to her lips, a flurry of tongue completing the connection.

As he moved away to gasp for air he couldn't help but gaze at her and smile. "That was…"

"Kiss me more…" she demanded, and he obliged.

Time flew or dragged on, they couldn't tell. All that was there was was the other rubbing against them and for Orihime inside her. Ichigo let out a cough. "Orihime, I'm gonna…Gonna…"

She slowed her self down and sat up a little more. She grabbed one of his hands off her ass moved it forward to her center. "Here…Ichigo…Touch…"

He didn't even need her to finish to know what was going on. His fingers explored a bit and he watched her closely. When he rubbed a small nub, he saw her whole body tremble, her eyes clasp shut and her arch back a bit more then it already was, which was saying something. To make sure it wasn't a fluke, he rubbed their again, and sure enough her reaction was intense, he even felt it inside her body where his cock was absorbing every vibration. So he kept rubbing it. And kissing her neck. And thrusting his hips.

The buildup of pleasure was maddening to her. "I…Chi…I…Chi……..I….I…Ichi…Chi…Ahhhhnnnn" Just on the verge of screaming the final syllable Orihime was stopped by Ichigo, biting into where her neck and shoulder met. As it happened her yelp of pain transformed into a moan, her body no longer able to hold back the sensations. She moaned and grunted and gasped and moaned again, shaking and convulsing and arching and squeezing Ichigo as close to her as he could get, and it wasn't close enough.

Ichigo felt everything she felt. And he lost it, with a grunt and a groan he felt his entire body tighten and then release as he emptied himself into the rubber. The tighter she held him the tighter he held her.

He could tell they weren't going to continue, so he pulled her with him as he shifted on the bed, and laid down With Orihime on top of him. She stayed still for a few more moments before rolling off of him and onto her back. Ichigo didn't waste any time disposing of the condom in a nearby trashcan. When he turned back Orihime was already getting dressed. So he followed in suit.

The silence was horrible, but neither could think of what to say. As Ichigo slid on his shirt he heard Orihime start to talk. "I wonder what Tatsuki will think about all of this?"

"Wait, What? You're going to tell her about this?"

Orihime fixed the top button on her blouse. "Well, I tell Tatsuki everything, why wouldn't I? Unless…are you ashamed Ichigo?"

"NO! It's just, I don't see a need to flaunt it around. It's not like I'm going to tell anyone."

"Well, I just…I tell Tatsuki everything! Keeping a secret from her is like…like…like…I don't know!"

"Look it's not a secret or anything but, lets just keep this to ourselves ok? We don't need random people at school talking about us behind our backs ok?"

"ok Ichigo…I'll keep it between us." She finished dressing. "Um, Ichigo?" He acknowledged her. "How…how was it?"

He moved slowly over to her. "It was amazing Orihime." And they shared one last kiss for that night.

* * *

A/N: It's done. There will probably be others.


	20. Disposition

A/N: I've got to get some kind of a schedule for updates. How about, once a week. That's a good goal. Anyways this chappie will reveal an important plot element, close a couple others, and uncover a character's true disposition. So yays.

Reviews:

Direct: Thank you for the compliments. Typographical? Yeah probably, Most of the time I finish writing at like midnight so I'm tired and don't bother to spell check before throwing it up to the sight. If you see anymore please feel free to nitpick cause I love criticism.

Mlk: Look no further. Unless you want to see the next next one too.

Mrated: I say Ichigo and Orihime cuz Orihime is her **first** name and Inoue is her **family **name. (check: Her brother's name is Sora Inoue…Sora **INOUE**, common mistake don't worry about it.) The switch to Ichigo-kun was touched upon at the end of chapter 18 (she's trying to be more familiar since their dating now). Details are good, and I admit I was lacking them in that last chapter, It was late and it had been a while since the last chap so I wanted to get it up their fast. I promise the next one will be better.

Demon: Thank you, I thought it kind of sucked. (but then again, maybe that was just Ichigo I was thinking of)

* * *

Chapter 20: Disposition

In a building that was still under heavy construction, certain events were taking place.

"Please my lord…" She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. He responded in kind. "Please."

He shook his head lightly. "Not until my war is over, you know that. I would not risk you bearing a child in the midst of combat."

"But I…"

He held her at arms length. "Ayame…Please don't tempt me." He slowly began to bring her back towards him. "Your beauty is already near impossible to resist." They kissed in a loving, but undeniably hungry manner.

The moment was interrupted by noises from a few yards away. The two backed away from each other and caught sight of their associates Mai and Seijin. They bowed as Sozo asked them what they wanted.

Seijin began the explanation. "Kaku has not yet returned from the mission. We were wondering how long it has been since you checked."

Sozo nodded and walked over to the make shift table, little more then several large steel objects stacked up. From the table he took hold of one of his swords, Yomitomoi and released it momentarily. "Kaku has completed his task for the day, bringing our total to two. He also has a good idea now of the patrol route of the target. His tardiness is due to curiosity. He is currently spying on the shopkeeper. For good reason, the shopkeeper seems to have a guest of impressive power. As for your other concerns, drop them."

They bowed again. While Seijin turned to leave Mai caught a glimpse of Ayame and smiled. "You seem upset? Is the spoiled noble girl not getting her way?"

"Shut up you whore!"

"My my, such a strong reaction. Sozo-sama, you really should do something to release her…tension." She turned and began to walk away.

"Mai." The master's word's held her still. "Why you take such joy in angering my wife I will never understand, regardless of how many times I have read through that mind, as we both know she isn't your type. Furthermore this most recent reading revealed to me that it was you who put such a ridiculous notion in her head. You know the danger we are in every day. That I would take such a risk…"

"Forgive me for my rudeness master, but perhaps it is those risks that would encourage such recreation. I happen to know personally that many men would rather have enjoyed the flesh of a woman on the eve of their death more then merely the cold stone of these new age castles. And her as well, would prefer to have left the form of the soul having known of the ways of the body more then once in this, her first of lives."

"I already know your arguments. Just leave my chamber and bother my wife no more." Mai did as she was told following Seijin closely.

* * *

"Well, here we are." Silence. "I'll be back to pick you up for school tomorrow."

"Ano…Kurosaki-kun, could we maybe, hold hands on the way to school tomorrow?"

He raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "Yeah sure I guess."

She nodded, and smiled. "Well then, good night, Kuro...Ichigo-kun."

"Yeah, Good night." She walked forward, breaking their hands apart. Ichigo began to walk home, although he felt like he as floating.

Orihime went into the shop and kicked off her shoes. "Sorry I'm so late coming in Urahara-san I was with Ichigo…"

"ORIHIME-CHAN!!" A pair of slender arms wrapped tightly around her body holding her close to a skinny but male body. The person swung her in a circle before releasing her quite unexpectedly after a loud slap rang out.

The man that had grabbed her was Shinji Hirako. The one who had slapped him with a sandal was Hiyori Sakaguchi. "Dickhead. Grabbing some girl at random like that."

Shinji stood up rubbing his face. "I was just saying hello to my close personal friend and possible love interest what's wrong with a friendly hug? YEOW!!"

She slapped him again and pointed the sandal at Orihime who had been thrown into a sitting position against a wall during the events. "You there, check your bra strap, make sure it's still tied."

"Excuse me?" Orihime and Shinji said this together. The outburst earned Shinji another sandal slap.

"You shut up, and if it's undone I slap you so hard with this thing you'll need to buy me a new pair!"

"Wow, you two really haven't changed at all have you? I bet he called you his first love didn't he Orihime?" Yoruichi casually remarked.

Orihime wasn't given a chance to respond though she had checked her bra, and it was still on properly. The person who spoke was Hiyori, who turned to Yoruichi exasperated. "You too Yoruichi?" She immediately became even angrier with Shinji and began rapidly striking him with the sandal. "Freaking…Dickheaded…Pervert!!"

Urahara slapped his fan shut, the noise gathering some attention. "Amusing as this is, we do have pressing business to attend to. Inoue-san, you can sit in if you like. Sakaguchi-san, Hirako-san…"

"Shinji Shinji Shinji, for over a century I've been telling you it's Shinji I don't like that Hirako stuff."

"My apologies. Moving on, I asked you here to enlist your help in a very serious situation you are no doubt aware of by now."

"Well of course we're aware of it." Shinji stood up, gripping his sword as he did. "He's on your roof right now." Faster then Orihime could track the doors were open and a blast of rain fresh cold air washed over the inside of the house. Outside on the roof, Shinji had his sword placed up against someone's neck. "You're a stealthy one aren'tcha? Too bad I'm really good at seeing through that kinda stuff. Not even the best illusionist ever can fool me." His wide toothy grin glowed in the moonlight before he threw his word down through the doll.

By now Hiyori and Yoruichi had rushed outside to see what was going on. They could see Shinji pointing his sword off towards another building top. In his other hand was what looked like the head of a body, though it notably lacked features, and closer examination would have revealed it was made of wood. Shinji, for his part was still speaking. "I know you can still hear me, and I can see you, I'll give chase but I'd rather not. Why don't you just come over here and chat?"

Kaku touched down softly in the yard of the shop and began walking forward toward the battle ready women. "Lower your guards, I'm not fool enough to pick a fight I cannot win. Besides a talk sounds nice. I've had nothing but my zanpakuto and those five to keep me company for a whole year, while thousands have passed out here." He casually walked into the building, followed by Shinji hopping to the ground, dropping the fake body.

Yoruichi looked skeptically about. "Shinji, do you know what you're doing."

Shinji brought his pinky up to his ear and started cleaning it. "Not really, but he has a point, he can't try anything against all of us at once, so what do we have to worry about."

As Urahara's newest guest entered the room Urahara couldn't help but smile curiously, while Orihime squeaked nervously. Even Kaku expressed shock. "You…How? There is no escape from Kaito Sutegoueru…"

"It seems that we have a piece of information that interests you Kaku-san. If you would like to find out about this miracle, sit, and tell us a few things first."

Kaku took a breath to calm himself , while taking a seat around the table. "Of course certain things I will not divulge. Our whereabouts, our plans."

"I would never expect you too, that would be contrary to your cause after all."

Kaku chuckled. "You misunderstand, nothing would make me happier then to see Sozo Menboku dead, and his zanpakuto gone with him." He said it calmly. He said it coolly. He said it certainly.

The three people standing behind him, as well as the two sitting with him were nothing but shocked.

Tessai walked in very calmly and put down several glasses of tea, commenting that he would need to make some more. Kaku took a sip from the one in front of him and thanked Tessai.

Hiyori gritted her teeth before jumping up and pointing at Kaku. "If you want him dead so bad then why the hell are you working for him?!"

"Because he'll kill me if I don't." It was another concise and simple statement.

Hiyori's arm dropped and mirrored the other, now at her hip. "Oh I get it, yer a cowardly little shit."

"Sakaguchi-san, please take your seat. It's not polite to insult a guest." Hiyori sat down, grumbling. "Why don't we let him explain his situation."

He took one more sip of tea. "Your diminutive friend is quite right, I am a bit of a coward." He ignored the outburst coming from Hiyori and continued. "However, I also like to think of myself as an intellectual. With a person like Sozo running around, at the very least someone should be nearby him at all times to monitor him, take a mental record of his growth. He's a very **unique specimen**."

These last two words were echoed by Kisuke Urahara. "You have no idea how many times I've heard that from one of my old associates."

Everyone except for Orihime and Kaku shivered at the thought.

Yoruichi downed her tea before deciding to speak. "You're very open with your anti-Sozo sentiments. Aren't you worried he might find out about it."

"Find out about it? He's known for quite a while. Since the…death of Emanias. There are no secrets from Sozo Menboku, not so long as he holds Yomitomoi."

Urahara's eyes bulged. "The weapon that enables him to read minds…?"

Kaku's normally thin and controlled mouth developed a smirk. "What? You thought you were free of it's grasp after he resealed it? Once Yomitomoi has tasted someone's blood, the connection can be reestablished by simply releasing the blade once more." Urahara's eyes were locked in wide open mode. He tried to swallow and it suddenly took a lot of effort. "You understand don't you? Any plan you can think of, any information you receive, even old memories. Your entire mind is a book that he may read at will."

Urahara's body began to shift forward and he was looking down. His mind raced through every possibility. "Shinji, I was already made up on asking you for your assistance, but at this point it is in our best interests if you don't respond directly to me. Please leave."

"Well this sucks, not a whole lot for us to do. Nice visit anyway Kisuke. Yoruichi. Orihime-chan. One last thing though. Shouldn't we just kill this guy so h can't help out your enemy anymore?"

"That won't be happening." Kaku finally finished his tea. "Before I ever placed the sensory doll on the roof to listen in on your conversation I also had another spell in place which will initiate a teleportation. I placed it around the entire building, so at a moments notice I can have this entire building taken away right to where my allies are waiting. But before that I would enjoy more talking." He turned to face Orihime. "Inoue-san, how did you return to that form?"

"Why do you need to ask? Hasn't Menboku already read Urahara-san's mind to find out?"

"Sozo is aware, I am not. Would you be so kind as to indulge my curiosity?"

She glanced over at Urahara, who was still dealing with the thought that his mind could be being read right now. Without confirmation on what she shouldn't say, she decided t summarize it. "I have a healing ability that Kurosaki-san was able to use through my, zanpakuto form. It works by…well I'm not really certain, but it was able to save me."

"Do you think it might work on Sozo's other swords?"

She gulped. "Maybe."

"I see. Consider yourself safe, I daresay Sozo will never approach you again." She looked confused so he continued. "I may fear death, but Sozo fears weakness. Consider if you were able to revert all those zanpakuto into their original forms? He would be surrounded by enemies, and rid of all his strength, all at once. And I know you're asking, 'won't he just kill me?'. This will not work on two counts, first, you are still alive, your death would just send you to the soul society. Secondly, Sozo is, for all his misgivings, a decent human being. He has taken an oath to never kill, so you are safe."

"Well that's good to hear, cause you know I'd slaughter you if anything happened to Orihime-chan." Shinji smirked. "I'll be going now, Kisuke, Yoruichi, Orihime,…" He looked right at the back of Kaku's head wit his eyes narrowed and his grin wide. "Kakuda."

Those who could see Kaku's face were able to glimpse a momentary reaction, but it didn't last.

Kaku left after that, unceremoniously, and Kisuke began to walk slowly away towards the main shop area. "You…should get some sleep…Inoue-san…" He slid the door closed behind him.

Yoruichi stood and motioned that Orihime should do as she was told, and she left the room quickly. Yoruichi on the other hand walked into the main store area and looked around for Kisuke. He hadn't moved very far, he was just sitting down against a display holding his cane in front of him. "Our enemies now know everything. Security details, the abilities and identities of the captains and lieutenants, even the vaizard." He put a hand on his shoulder. "I took one nick from that weapon, and in that moment, I gave him every resource to accomplish his mission."

"We have no evidence that he was telling the truth, about any of it."

"Can we take the risk that it was a lie?"

She closed her eyes and took a breath. "No."

"We need to contact the old man. He must know about this development."

* * *

"The wizard returns! What took so long Ka-kun?" Mai was right in face smiling.

"Reconnaissance."

She sighed. "Boring as always."

Seijin interrupted his meditation to call out to his allies. "Welcome back Kaku-san. Menboku-sama is waiting for you to report to him."

Kaku nodded and went on his way.

"Welcome my old friend."

"The others aren't in earshot, drop the formalities Sozo."

"Your true disposition is always so rude. About what you told that man, it worries me. Have been able to come up with a decent defense for your actions?"

"Yes. Considering his actions thus far as an organizer of the combative forces here in the human world, as well as a singular contact between here and Seireitei, the revelation of his surveillance will cause him to seek isolation. I have disabled one of your strongest malcontents, and the single most informed entity in the human world. As it stands this will assist the infiltration efforts."

"I see. Good work."

"As always, Menboku-sama." The contempt in this statement was tangible.

* * *

A/N: So yeah, one a week. I swear on...something.


	21. Interuptions

A/N: I'm sticking to my schedule! YAY! Also, hurrah for Urymu/Ishimu/Nemida fluff. (personally I like Nemida)/That's what I want to say, but because the mysteries of the internet are numerous and manifold (and I think it hates me) this chapter was not posted when I thought it was. So you get a double chapter tonight, and one more sometime next week.

Reviews:

Balmung: Thanks for reviewing at all!

Demon: He is awesome isn't he?

* * *

Chapter 21: Interruptions

"And this makes 5. Only one more to go." Sozo examined them, making sure they would work. "Excelent job."

"Yes. The last one will be a bit more difficult to obtain, the soul is in hiding from a hollow in the area. The hollow is uniquely difficult to track, but destroying it should make the soul visible once more."

Excelent work Kaku. "Everyone be prepared to make the jump at a moment's notice, as soon as Kaku has his, he will initiate the plan. I will track him with Yomitomoi and when the window opens, we must not miss it."

"Yes we get it. We've heard this plan several times already. You worry too much; it's definitely going to work."

Sozo nodded. "I just want to make sure everyone understands the danger. As soon as we cross over we will be attacked. Kaku will do his best to hide our presence, but his concealing powers are limited if we are moving. We will need to split up, and avoid conflict. Stay low. I will approach Yamamoto first, and he will either take our side willingly or over time as my newest weapon."

There were nods of agreement all around. "Go, Kaku."

"Uryu. Uryu. ISHIDA!" The yell was accompanied by a loud slam which finally managed to shake Ishida out of his daze. Nanao was standing in front of his desk, not looking at him but looking very annoyed. "Well are you going to answer my question or just gawk?"

Ishida continued to gawk for a moment before straightening his glasses and asking "I'm sorry what was it that you asked me?"

Nanao's anger was made all the more evident by the vein bulging on her forehead as well as the increased shaking of her fist. "Your addition to my squad was one of the oddest and most unexpected appointments I've ever seen, not to say that I'm not grateful, the ease with which you have picked up performing the tasks I have appointed you as well as your attention to detail and reliability has made you into one of my most trusted subordinates but if this has all been an act and you are nothing but a day dreamer who was just trying to get a good position by working will early on I will not except it." Ishida made may attempts during this speech to interject, but Nanao just kept right on going. As she finished she spun and with an evil glare in her eyes "AM I UNDERSTOOD!?"

For the first time since starting here, Ishida understood what the others meant when they said she was overbearing. "Yes, I was just caught in my own thoughts, I apologize."

"Right then, as I was saying. Do you have those reports done?"

Uryu quickly looked down and scanned his desk. He found the one she was looking for, and it only needed authorization from Kyoraku. He quickly faked the signature and handed it over to her.

She examined it. "Good. Now get back to work, there is still a lot more paperwork coming through here."

Ishida continued to work but he also continued to think about something else. Something that had been on his mind for a long time now, or at least what seemed like a long time to him. _'Nemu…'_ Today was Saturday. Some inconspicuous prodding during times when he could meet with other squad twelve members had revealed to him that these were the days Mayuri choose to rest, which meant that tonight would be when she would show up again. She would be there tonight, and he still had no idea what he was going to do. His zanpakuto's message had made sense from every rational position he could think of. The debate should have been over.

But it wasn't. Every time he considered blowing Nemu off and denouncing her as a spy, his heart would wrench at such thoughts. He cursed his chivalry while also praising it. _'Nemu…so pitiful, with such a sad life, who could be so monstrous as to cast her away?'_ And then there were the other feelings he had which were even more conflicted. _'Nemu…a beautiful young woman…deserving of happiness…'_ Just two days after his zanpakuto's warning he had begun to think such things. Anticipation, excitement, elation. He understood all the signs. After all, it wasn't the first time he had had a crush on a girl.

* * *

'_Damn…What's going on out there?'_ Ichigo was sitting in class fidgeting and tapping his ankle over and over again. On and off all day he could sense a hollow. One of the first hollows in quite a long time too, as most hollows had stopped coming around after Aizen's plan had started to circulate. But it was just a half day, so the teacher was being really stingy about letting him out for a bathroom break, and someone had disabled the fire alarms after his last stunt, so that wouldn't work again.

Finally class ended, and none of his friends questioned him as he raced out to go take care of the hollow problem.

With his body safely tucked in a bathroom stall he started looking around town, but he couldn't pick up anything on this hollow.

After several laps around the city he finally picked up its reiatsu and started dashing for it. Oddly enough though, it seemed like it was already in combat.

This was confirmed when he arrived on the scene, and saw that there was already a Shinigami battling the hollow. Determined to be of assistance Ichigo drew his sword and leapt at the beast. Just before he could connect the creature disappeared. Ichigo's momentum carried him through where the monster should have been, and right toward the Shinigami, who defended with his own sword.

Ichigo's mind froze. The Shinigami he was looking at was one of the ones from the other day. The one he couldn't sense. "YOU!" With a roar he pushed Kaku back with his sword. Kaku landed and held his sword up in a combat ready station. "You're gonna pay for what you did!"

"What I did? I believe you mean what Sozo did, or more what he tried to do, I understand that he failed, and that Inoue-san is fine."

"That's beside the point. You don't think I'm going to go and kick the rest of your friends' asses too?"

"Perhaps you should calm down, and worry more about this hollow. It's a unique adjuchas class that has several peculiar traits."

"I can kill the hollow on my own after I beat you into the ground." Ichigo started to run forward but stopped when he heard a hollow's screech. Kaku quickly took off in that direction, and Ichigo gave pursuit. When they found the hollow again it was sniffing around the ground through the large snout like hole in its mask.

Ichigo took a moment to more thoroughly examine the hollow this time, noting its enormous oversized ears and strange cracks all over its purple body that seemed to crackle with black and white coloring. Besides a pig snout, its hollow mask lacked a lower jaw structure, instead the top row of teeth were large and went down long enough to cover the entire face. "_De shoul ish neervy. Annoying Shinigami…Leave Romani alone…"_ He stretched his arm out at them and the cracks along his body spawned a large blast of dark grey energy. Kaku and Ichigo dodged away from the blast.

Kaku paid close attention, noting how the energy type was non-destructive, it didn't even dent the stone ground that was everywhere in this city. He also noted that the energy formation didn't move out and then expend itself, but rather it retracted back into the hollows body. "Kurosaki-san, avoid those attacks."

"Really now, like I needed to be told that!" Ichigo charged at the hollow again, leaping over another blast and swinging his sword down right where the hollow's head should have been. "Damn how the hell does it move so fast?"

"It doesn't. It just hides in its own stomach." Ichigo gave him a strange look. "The energy pulse he gives out is a transportation effect; it engulfs targets and then pulls them back into the hollow's body, thereby directly fusing them into its stomach. At a moments notice he can create such an area around his entire body and disappear into his own dimension. He can reappear at any time so keep your guard up."

Ichigo glanced back over at Kaku, whom a dark grey blot had just appeared behind. "Get down! Getsuga Tensho!" The hollow fully appeared ready to attack Kaku, but was instead met with a blue energy blast bashing into its body and sending it flying away. Kaku as well spun and pointed his hands forward. He muttered some incantations and two giant blasts of bluish energy flew out, slamming into the stunned hollow.

When the smoke cleared the hollow was still standing but its body was burnt in a few places. "_Shinigami sho…bitter…Romani want other shouls…_" He vanished.

"Damn him." Ichigo started looking around. He looked over at Kaku who was walking away. "Hold on. I still need to settle something with you."

"Are you a Shinigami Kurosaki-san? Because if you are, all other tasks, vendettas and all, are secondary to saving a soul from a hollow." Kaku turned and looked right at Ichigo.

"Alright then. You got any bright ideas?"

"Yes. I'll find it, you kill it. The surface of its body has a continual dimensional flux around it, zanjutsu will work better then kido." Kaku knelt and released his zanpakuto, the leather band wrapping around his arm. "I will locate it and then transport you to it, you will have one strike." He took a deep breath while tracing a circle in the ground with one hand and pointing his zanpakuto arm at Ichigo. "Bakudo 58, summoning of the tracking sparrows!"

Ichigo waited. A flash of light from the circle that Kaku had drawn told him to prepare himself. A beam flew out of the zanpakuto arm's fingertip and hit him square in the chest, but it didn't hurt, instead the world just blinked out of existence for a second before reappearing. He was in mid air, barely 4 feet away from, above and behind the hollow. As he started to fall he swung the sword and cleaved the hollows head off.

Quick, clean and simple. Except now he had no idea where Kaku was. He started frantically looking around to figure out where in town he was and where he had just been but before he could figure it out he heard a noise behind him. When he turned to look it was just a little girl. A little girl with a chain sticking out of her chest. "I guess she's the soul the hollow was after." The girl, like most residents in Karakura town did seem to be an abnormally powerful soul. "Right then, better do the konso… Hey kid, come over here, I'm gonna help you out."

"Do…Do you mean it? No more monsters?"

"Yeah sure I promise…!" Kaku had appeared behind the little girl, holding his zanpakuto above her head. "HEY!"

Kaku brought the sword down, placing the hilt against her head. She spun at the contact and saw him standing over her, as he looked down at her solemnly. "Enjoy your next life, little one…" The little girl began to fade into a blue portal, while a black butterfly started to appear. As the two processes came to a close, Kaku reached out and took a gentle hold of the butterfly. "And that makes 6."

Not really minding any of what Kaku was saying Ichigo pointed his zanpakuto up at him. "Alright now. Time for you to talk. Orihime told me about that little visit you had last night. So tell me, is that all Sozo has over you all, you're all just too frightened to fight back!?"

Kaku sighed. "No, the others are genuinely loyal. Mai respects his strength, Seijin honors his goals, Suba as well, but to a much greater extent, and Ayame, is…in love with him. I am the only rebellious entity."

"You know I'm going to beat him right? What will you do then?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry Kurosaki-san, I would love to continue this conversation, but I am needed elsewhere. Goodbye."

"Wait!" Ichigo leapt at him but he shunpo'd away, once more becoming untraceable. "Damn him."

* * *

Darkness and still no sign of her. And still no idea what to do if she showed up.

It was just his luck that at that very moment Nemu arrived. She leapt casually through his window without a word and landed with the softest tap of her sandals against the ground. He was just looking at her, wide eyed and nervous. He shook himself out of it and stood to greet her. "Good evening, Nemu-san."

"Hello. I should probably go now. Thank you." She bowed and turned to leave.

"Wait, what do you mean leave?"

"I was quite certain that you would have changed your mind about spending time with me. No one much enjoys my presence."

"That's not true!" _'Do I mean that? Yes, yes I do.'_ He stood up and walked closer to her. "I would actually very much like to watch the stars with you."

Without turning to face him Nemu nodded and began moving towards the window. She grabbed the roofing outside and flipped up onto the roof. Ishida went to follow her, giving only one glance back at his zanpakuto, propped up against a wall.

On the roof Nemu just looked up at the sky. Ishida was a bit more active, he looked around at the city surrounding them, he looked at the sky, but what he looked at the most was Nemu. _'She's not saying anything. Is that good or bad? How can I tell? Huh?'_ Ishida glanced back up at the sky and noticed something. He started tracing lines in the sky with his finger. Eventually his actions caught Nemu's attention, and she turned her head to stare at his odd behavior. When he noticed this he laughed nervously. "It's just something I've never noticed before, Soul society has the same night sky as the human world, all the constellations match up, even Polaris is in the same place."

Nemu went back to looking at the stars. "Soul society is in effect a parallel of the human world, this place shares the same spatial position in our individual universes, so we have the same sky, seasons, even the progression of day and night are identical."

"I see. I wonder if Hueco Mundo is the same way."

"No, Hueco Mundo is its own unique and individual universe, its ecosystem is supernatural, with no sun, and no daylight, but warmth enough for most creatures to still be able to survive. The hollow world is in many ways still a mystery to us, the few expeditions into that place have all been disastrous."

"Unfortunate, seeing as it is the battle field in the coming war."

There was another momentary silence. "Ishida-san, are you doing this because you love me?"

There was silence between them but Ishida could feel a very loud thumping noise coming from his chest.

Nemu was the one to break it. "Forgive me; it's not my place to ask such strange questions."

"S-strange? What do you mean?"

"I should not encourage affections. I know well enough what they are. As my father instructed me that they were useless and should be abandoned."

'_Abandoned?'_ "Nemu-san, emotions and affections are never useless, they are what make us human, without them we would be no better then the very monsters we must destroy. You have feelings don't you? I seem to remember once seeing you smile before, at the thought that your father would live."

"Yes…"

Ishida glanced over at her, and she was smiling again, an incredibly small smile. "Thinking about it again."

"That day, Yes…but not about Mayuri-sama. About you. Thinking about you makes me feel the same way…only, different down here." She wrapped her arms around her gut.

When she said that, he had a sudden burst of confidence. Ishida reached out a hand and rest it on hers. "I know that feeling."

It took a long time. He had to scoot in next to her, until their sides were against each other. Then he flipped her hand up, so that they held together, palm to palm. And then after an eternity of inching he finally managed to kiss her on the lips. _'So soft…'_ When he backed away and looked at her he could see her blushing and her eyes confused but joyous. "Nemu-san I…"

"ALERT! ALERT! INTRUDERS IN THE SEIREITEI!"

* * *

Zennosuke was just sitting on a roof, whining as he always did. "I never have anything to do! High school kids always killing all the hollows and the one time it looks like there's gonna be some action I get told to stand back as back up while a bunch of captains show up to take care of it all! I need to ask for reassignment."

In the midst of his rant he heard a noise behind him, so he stood up and prepared to draw, praying it was hollow he could fight. But he couldn't sense anything so he gave up on looking. Then he heard a voice, right behind his ear. "_**Food…"**_

Once more he spun, only this time he could plainly see the hollow staring right in the face. The monster reared up and swung its arm at him in a wild punch. Zennosuke just barely managed to dodge away and draw his sword. "Alright hollow freak, you wanna fight you gotta fight! HYAAA!!" He rushed forward and slashed, but the hollow caught his weapon in its right hand, blocking the blade with just its skin. "No way!" The creature pulled the sword back and punched Zennosuke in the face, releasing the sword and sending him flying.

He stopped himself in midair. "Wow, tough one, I'll actually need to try against you! OHAYO!! Tsuchinamazu!!" His sword transformed into a chakram with a long purple ribbon. The hollow wasn't deterred and leapt up to attack him again. "You never be able to block my Tsuchinamazu! Ooooowahhh!!"

Once more it defended with its right hand, easily blocking the blade. It grabbed hold of his hand by the chakram and swung him around before releasing him into a nearby building. Zennosuke pulled himself out of the rubble and his behind a wall. "There's no way I can beat that thing! Where's a high school student when you need him? I need back up!" He pulled out his phone and started dialing. "Hello! Hello anyone!"

"Hello Kurumadami-san, what is it?"

"I'm being attacked by a very nasty hollow! I need back up immediately!"

"Are you sure? I'm not reading any spiritual pressure in that area but yours."

"I didn't throw myself through the wall! You gotta get someone out here to help me or get me outta here!"

"I'm sorry but at this time we can do neither, Head captain Yamamoto has put a freeze on the senkaimon, emergency use only."

There was a roar from the hollow as it burst through the ceiling, glaring at Zennosuke through its mask. Zennosuke dodged another punch before leaping out the hole his body had made earlier and beginning to fly as fast as he could. "This is an emergency! Ask one of the captains! Ukitake, Kyoraku, Someone please!"

After a few moments pause the voice on the line came back. "Alright we just received special permission to open the gate from captain Unohana, but we can only allow it to be open for ten seconds, so hurry up."

"No problem."

Following behind Zennosuke, just within earshot to hear that conversation, the hollow nodded under its mask.

* * *

"It's done, Kaku succeeded. Get ready to go home everyone." The five of them prepared their hell butterflies while Sozo held his sword out to open a pathway into the senkaimon the instant it was opened. "Home, I'll finally be home again…Now!"

He twisted his sword, and the doors appeared before them.

* * *

A/N: I swear to abide by the weekly schedule, especially since we're getting into the crazy fast paced action part where everything is revealed in maelstrom of suspense and an avalanche of shock!


	22. Disperse

A/N: Sorry about the miss post, here's your second chapter, next one will be in about a week.

Reviews:

None, understandably

* * *

Chapter 22: disperse

"H-hey Rukia! Fancy meeting you here!"

Rukia turned and saw Renji looking towards her with a smile. "Not really, these are the squad thirteen barracks. Why are you here?"

Suddenly indignant, Renji glared at her. "What am I banished from this building or something?"

"No. And why are you getting so upset? I think that was a perfectly reasonable question. What are you up to Renji?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"Nothing! I just came by to say hi! Why are you being so suspicious?!"

"Why are you being so defensive?!"

The two were glaring at each other with a faint crackle of lightning between their eyes. A few Shinigami walked by them, looking confusedly at the pair. Two Shinigami in particular offered some commentary on the subject, and though neither Rukia or Renji were paying much attention they both heard the word "lovers" come up directed at them. Their immediate mutual embarrassment made them turn away quickly.

After a moment without looking back at his diminutive friend Renji asked her plainly "So Rukia…You wanna go out sometime?"

Rukia gulped. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Well?"

"Why not Rukia? You have plenty of free time."

The two Shinigami spun to see Ukitake was standing between them. "Captain! What are you doing here?"

"These are my barracks Rukia. But it would be a good thing if you two could spend more time together, without battling for your lives."

Rukia looked around at the faces and then straight down at her feet. "Maybe…I must go…" She ran away.

Renji motioned to go after her but Ukitake halted him. "You know where her worry comes from Abarai-kun."

He did. "Captain Kuchiki."

Ukitake nodded. "Speaking of which I would like you to deliver this to him." He handed a letter over to Renji. "It's a formal request for Captain Kuchiki's permission to promote Rukia to lieutenant."

"Lieutenant? Sir…"

"We both know she's strong enough, her victory over the ninth Espada is evidence enough of that. Besides I'll have enough of a problem convincing Byakuya to go through with this don't you turn against me now as well."

"Of course, Captain Ukitake."

"And it will also give you a chance to ask about courting Rukia!"

Turning away Renji began to walk, but he was interrupted by an all too familiar noise.

"ALERT! ALERT! INTRUDERS IN THE SEIREITEI!"

"Abarai-kun! Report to captain Kuchiki at once! This incident will not be so fortunate as the last."

Without a second thought Renji took off, moving towards his barracks at full speed."

* * *

"Finally I get to go home!" Zennosuke stepped into the portal way and began running to the other side, remembering his time limit. He slowed himself down only after hearing the other footsteps in the corridor. _The hollow must have followed me! Gotta keep running! Don't look back!'_ His head craned and he looked behind himself. What he saw scared him far more then any hollow.

There were several Shinigami running after him. The shock caused him to misstep and begin to fall, but he never hit the ground. The massive arm of an equally massive man grabbed him and began to carry him with ease over his shoulder.

A sudden burst of light told Zennosuke he was in the soul society again, and the man that was carrying him quickly dropped him. Zennosuke finally took the time to examine the people who had just saved him from being caught in the senkaimon, and then he began to panic. _'I saw that blond kid and his friends fighting these guys the other day! And losing! Oh man, I don't stand a chance!'_ He started to crawl away when he saw the kido squad that had opened the gateway looking extremely surprised to see more then one Shinigami. From somewhere deep in his bowels Zennosuke pulled out some courage. "Sound the alarm! These people are…!" He went unconscious after a blow to the back of the head from the very same man that had carried him through the between dimension.

The kido squad members began to move but they were quickly being knocked out by the lightning quick Suba. The last one standing took his moment to launch a large explosive red blast upward. It went high enough to be seen throughout most of the Seireitei and within moments the alarms were sounding.

"They know we're here." Seijin cracked his knuckles and twisted his neck.

Mai smiled. "They were bound to find out eventually. What's the plan now Sozo-kun?"

"Diversion. I will head directly for the squad one barracks. Yamamoto will be waiting for me there. The rest of you will move about the soul society as a diversion, and to survey the abilities of the new generation of shinigami. Ayame, hide your reiatsu and stay hidden, I do not want you to be involved in the combat. And remember, no deaths."

They all said "yes sir" in unison before the six of them parted, racing through Seireitei in different directions.

* * *

Ichigo landed softly outside the shop before walking in. "Thanks for hauling my body Chad, I owe you one." He leapt in and stretched out the body while Chad told him it was no problem.

Orihime smiled at him and asked, "So, Ichigo-kun, did you get that hollow?"

"Yeah but…That Kaku guy showed up and performed the konso on the spirit, and then he just ran off. Said something about the butterfly. Hey where's hat and clogs?"

Yoruichi, sitting on the table in cat form was the one who answered this question. "He's sitting in a back room with ear plugs and a blindfold on. I've never seen him like this."

"To Kisuke, his mind is a sacred place where he can contemplate the world around him and think of the right thing to do at a given time, now the sanctity of that place is gone, and he feels more vulnerable then ever before." Tessai said this in a sagely tone.

"I suppose so, still, it worries me to see him like this."

There was a knock at the door, and Urahara came wandering in. He was blindfolded and was using his cane to navigate the room. "Don't mind me, I'm just getting something to drink."

"Hey Urahara!" Ichigo yelled this quite loudly but he got no response.

Yoruichi sighed. "I told you he has earplugs, he has to make sure he doesn't hear if we come up with a plan."

Ichigo gritted his teeth and leapt up right in front of Urahara. He ripped off the blindfold and tore out the earplugs. "Stop it Kurosaki-san! If I know what's going on they'll know what's going on!"

"You idiot! They already know what's going on! They are what's going on! So stop having a nervous breakdown just because someone peeked at your brain." There was a moment of silence. "Now come on. We need your help to figure out what they might be up to." Urahara still looked uneasy. "You know damn well we're going to need you at some point anyway, so you're gonna find out."

"Alright then Kurosaki-san, you've convinced me, but reveal as little as possible."

"So Ichigo, what was going on then? You said something about him performing the konso on a soul and then what?"

"Oh yeah, nothing. He just grabbed a butterfly and ran off."

"The hell butterfly?"

"Yeah that black one that always shows up after a konso."

Chad hummed before speaking. "Don't Shinigami use those to stabilize the path between here and the soul society?"

Kisuke nodded. "Yes, but the soul society is on lockdown, without my device to forcibly open a gate over there, you can't get in from this side."

"HELLO EVERYONE!! Sorry I'm late I was making out with my girlfriend Mahana!"

"You really shouldn't talk like that Asano-san, it might offend some people."

"No more ten you refusal to call me Keigo offends me daily."

The two sat down at the table and looked on. "Sooooooo…What's going on?! How'd it go with the hollow?"

"It went fine, just one of those other Shinigami got in the way."

Keigo sat down. "You mean Af-san?"

"Who?"

Yoruichi turned her head to Ichigo. "I think he's referring to Zennosuke Kurumadami, the resident soul reaper in Karakura town after Rukia was arrested."

Ichigo though for a moment. "Oh yeah, I remember him, no, it wasn't him."

"Oh, weird, cuz we saw him on the way over here. He was fighting this weird looking hollow that not even Keigo could sense. Weirdest part is halfway through this doorway just showed up in the sky and they both ran through it dissapearing!"

Orihime thought for a moment before asking "That's not so strange…Isn't that Mizuiro's power?"

Keigo nodded very rapidly. "Yeah, but this was a very detailed door, like something classical Japanese."

Urahara rapidly stood up. "The enemy is in Seireitei."

* * *

Renji arrived and kneeled before his captain. "Awaiting orders sir."

"Stand up and follow me, Renji." Byakuya took off at high speeds into the city, and Renji was only barely able to keep up. "Intel suggests that these are the culprits that caused the incident in the real world a week ago. If that's true…" they rounded a corner and Byakuya picked up his speed a bit. "Captains will be necessary to contain the threat, however…" He stopped, and a breathless Renji landed behind him. "Bankai is forbidden."

"Excuse me Captain? Bankai is…"

"The enemy has a unique ability to instantly defeat an opponent that attempts Bankai. This information was released only to captains, but for the obvious reasons you should be made aware as well. Also Renji, these people are not to be underestimated, and must be killed as quickly as possible. No exceptions."

"Yes captain."

"Good. Now get going. I will go where I am needed." The regal captain disappeared in a flash step.

'_Good, now I need to go find Ikkaku, he needs to be warned just in case…No one else noticed during the fight with the arrancar, but I would recognize that reiatsu anywhere.'_ He went off leaping toward the 11th squad barracks, then diverted to where he could feel a large reiatsu moving. _'Yeah, that's where he'll be headed, probably with captain Zaraki.'_

* * *

Nemu walked over to her position and awaited the few moments before Mayuri finally acknowledged her. "You're late you miserable girl. Come over hear and help me finish these modifications."

She walked silently over to him and held his hair up and out of the way of what he was working out. "Has the monitoring department finished the array that I requested?"

"Yes."

"Not there you idiot! The other side!" She obeyed quickly. "Good then, I will link directly to the data through this device. Let go now, I can finish from here." He stood and while still looking in the mirror completed the adjustments to his hair Done then, let's go, Nemu."

"Yes sir."

* * *

"Kisuke what's going on?"

Yoruichi and the others were following Kisuke as he walked across the basement. "Think about it!"

"The only thing I can think about is how Itchy these clothes are! Why did I have to get dressed?"

"You're going into combat, I didn't want Kurosaki-kun being disabled by a nosebleed." A few snickers went around. "But I'm surprised you haven't figured it out. Zennosuke was being attacked by an enemy that was too tough for him, so he must have called for extraction. The attack was staged to open the senkaimon, and they had been collecting hell butterflies from konso to stabilize the pathway, meaning by now they are in Seireitei. Tessai!"

"Right!" The portal appeared and the two kido masters began charging it up.

Orihime began to crack her knuckles and stretch. "Ready to go! Right Sado-kun?"

"No thanks." He gripped his hand. "I'm still not sure on this arm of mine, better not tempt it."

"That's fine Sado-san, as neither you nor Orihime can go this time." She cast her eyes at him disappointedly. "I'm sorry Inoue-san, I didn't have enough time to prepare the reishihenkanki so I can't send you or any other human's along. This time it will be only Kurosaki-san and Yoruichi-san."

"I see…" She turned to face Ichigo. "Ichigo-kun, be careful mffffmnnnn" He surprised her by out of nowhere kissing her.

After he backed away he smiled at her. "Don't worry, I'm coming back safe and sound. Though I guess I'll be more careful since I won't have you to put me back together."

She smiled but couldn't hide a slight blush. "Right…Oh and say hi to Ishida-san."

He nodded while Yoruichi called him over. The two of them lined up in front of the senkaimon and prepared to jump through. From behind him he heard Orihime call out "I love you! So come back alight!"

He nodded heavily, and then leapt in after Yoruichi.

* * *

The alarms echoed everywhere, even in his quarters, at the very heart of the Seireitei. He looked into a mirror, examining the wizened body that he called his own. He could still even after so long remember his youth, he could remember with startling clarity exactly what he had looked like the last time he had seen…Him. "Sozo Menboku…"

From over two thousand years ago his mind called back memories of two distinct individuals. One was an overzealous and naïve young man, cheerful and humorous and loyal. The other was a mad, power obsessed man, devoid of conscious. "Sozo Menboku, why? I suppose, I may find out today."

He sat down at the table, with tea ready. After all, he was expecting a guest.

* * *

"Ikkaku-san, are you sure about this?!"

"I'm positive Yumichika, Just follow me! I'll lead us right to the best battle don't you worry! My instincts have never been sharper!"

"I trust you with my life and more importantly the protection of my beautiful face, but I just don't sense it."

"Neither do I! But I know that he's gone this way!" Ikkaku randomly stopped on a roof edge crouching and looking in at the tiles. "Yes, definitely gone this way. Shut up and follow!"

They took off again.

* * *

A tiny little girl ran with incredible speed along the roofs of Seireitei eventually leaping and flipping and bounding off walls back forth, finally flying through a window and grabbing hold of the big back that waited inside. "Ken-chan! Oh wait…" She sniffed and sniffed. "Sorry Kitsune-kun, from behind and in the dark you look a lot like my Ken-chan. Hey why aren't you moving out to intercept the enemy?"

"I'm waiting here, I believe one of them may be coming this way."

"Really! Ken will be so happy to hear that! Do you know where he is?"

"Three floors down."

"Thank you Kitsune-kun." She back flipped off of him and out the window, quickly descending the building.

Sajin stood up and examined his zanpakuto. "Yes, I must join the fight this time."

* * *

"Captain! It's just as you feared, I cannot locate Ishida anywhere, he is most likely attempting to engage the ryoka."

Kyoraku mulled this over. "Ironic, I think, what does that word mean again?"

"This is no time for jokes captain! We were supposed to monitor him and his abilities! We can't just let him slip away like this!"

He patted Nanao's head. "Don't be so silly Nanao-chan. If we never give him the opportunity to test his abilities how can we monitor them? However you're right, he might need some help, so me you and some other squad members will split up to try and find him and give him aid."

She stood still for a moment. "Right sir!"

* * *

Kaku stood on top of a building, scanning the entire city with his kido. "I see, so many individuals of incredible power, and all moving so quickly. I count twelve who show the possibility of Bankai, ten captains, and the other two must have only recently attained the status to avoid promotion. One of those must be Renji Abarai, the other is unknown, so identifying him would be most beneficial. Hmmm? He seems to be tracking me…How very odd. At the very least, it will make finding him easier."

* * *

A/N: so much going on, and all so shonen.


	23. Fight

A/N: Ok I have a serious request. Despite the fact that I write fanfiction I am not as otaku as some people might believe. About the most otaku thing I do is watch subs, but hey don't judge. I happen to know there are people much more into the anime scene then myself, and I'm hoping that at least one of them is reading this fic, cause I need a favor. The bleach opening a while ago featured stuff from the newest movie, and one scene of Shuhei Hisagi releasing his zanpakuto. But no audio, and the clip was about 2 seconds long. If anyone knows anything about his release, TELL ME!! I won't consider it a spoiler or anything, I just don't want to have Hisagi fight and not try y'know. Thanks in advance.

Reviews: 7! That's a new record for this fic. Then again 21 has 0 so we also set a all new low.

Balmung: He should, but with no Bankai I can't do anything really spectacular with him.

Ei: Thanks, and OOC stuff just annoys me, so I try to avoid it.

Mrated: Renkia, possible, but Ishida and Mayuri? I think you mean Ishida and Nemu, in which case probably. As for where I get my material, I've played videogames and watched tv and movies for the majority of my life, and to top it all off I like to read wikipedia articles about fiction, eventually you just start thinking "well what if someone could do this…"

Madara: Endings are difficult, but it helps to know where you're going, which I do.

* * *

Chapter 23: Fight

A bright flash of light and loud slam told the people of west Rukon that something was going on. The few that came to investigate were delighted to see Ichigo, rather then other less familiar people. The elder quickly approached to greet him, but was cut off when Yoruichi shouted "Lets go Ichigo!"

Without any hesitation Ichigo took off right for Seireitei. The wall came down to block him as usual, as did Jidanbo. "Hey there Ichigo-san. Need me to open the gate for you?"

Ichigo ran right by the giant yelling out "No time to chat sorry!" As he approached the gate he braced his arms, and in an astonishingly fluid motion lifted the gate open, keeping it that way long enough for Yoruichi to run through. With her out of the way he quickly slid under himself, leaving only a sense of surprise and confusion in the denizens of west Rukon.

* * *

The door slid open. "Captain Yamamoto, he's here."

Footsteps told Yamamoto that someone was entering. "Thank you, Chojiro, you may go now."

"Yes sir." The door slid shut again, and now the guest came into view. "It has been so long, Sozo."

"So long, and yet I have changed so little compared to you." Sozo sat down and bowed. "It is an honor to stand before you once more, Captain Yamamoto-sama."

"Do you still have that accursed blade?"

Sozo winced at this comment. He grabbed at the cloth that held his cape to him and unbound it, with a wave to the side the cape flourished and when he allowed it to settle the space behind it was now occupied by three swords. One, with red and yellow decorations along the handle and sheathe. One with a solid white color broken only in a few locations by sky blue triple spirals. And the last one, with a pure black sheathe and a white cross guard in the shape of a five pointed star, and grey hilt weaving.

It was this third sword that enhanced Yamamoto's anger to fury. Sozo looked at it admiringly. "So much hatred and strife over one weapon."

"That sword stands as what broke the balance between accident and intention. Your actions after acquiring that forbidden power were no less unacceptable."

"My actions, so evil that a curse was passed down and inherited by my entire family?! Simply for believing as I believe?! I have cut your precious former captain upon Yomitomoi. I am well aware of what occurred in my absence. I am aware of all that has occurred. The banishment of the Vaizard. The destruction of the Quincy. The exile of Urahara." Sozo faced Yamamoto with a truly daunting stare. "I see that even two thousand years cannot curb your intolerant ways. It is you Yamamoto, who are unforgivable."

"In every moment of my life I have always done as I was thought best to maintain order and peace. You only know of chaos, you take no consideration for the consequences of your actions!"

"And how have the consequences of your actions rewarded you? You are an old fool Yamamoto. But you are a powerful old fool. I give you the choice…well, you know."

"And you know the answer." Yamamoto rose and revealed his sword.

Across from him Sozo also stood. "As a mark of courtesy I shall refrain from using any of the swords that I obtained after Hueco Mundo." He revealed and dropped Koutaigou on the ground, then did the same with Yomitomoi. As he drew Sutegoueru he also moved and picked up the red and yellow sword. "Take that which is rightfully yours, Sutegoueru. Shine and Burn, Tenkamaru _(Fire caused by Lightning)_."

"You have no courtesy, forcing me to face of against what is essentially my teacher. Reduce the whole of creation to smoldering ashes, Ryujin Jakka."

* * *

"This way! Hurry up Yumichika!" Ikkaku rapidly ran across roofs, between buildings and even over fences on a seemingly random root.

Yumichika was keeping up, but getting annoyed. "Where are we going? It seems like we've been moving in circles."

"We have been." Ikkaku ignored his friends surprise and smiled broadly. "Yeah, he' still coming. Looks like he's just as interested in fighting as I am. Get out of the way Yumichika, I call dibs!"

"What are you talking about! I'm beginning to think you've gone completely in…"

"Not really."

Yumichika quickly shut up and spun to see a strange Shinigami. He looked like an overall average person, but he didn't feel like anything. "Is this who you've been tracking?"

Ikkaku started stretching. "Not exactly. I stopped tracking him a while ago, after I realized he was looking for me too."

"That was the most interesting thing about you. How did you know I was coming after you, most people have a problem sensing me."

The bald man let out a laugh. "My ability to sense things is crap anyway. I just followed your trail at first, red fibers from that sash, misplaced tiles, and once I got close enough, the sound of your footsteps. You step loud as hell you know that? Now enough chat, pull out your sword and fight me!"

Kaku smiled. "You are definitely an interesting person. You give off almost no reiatsu signature, but you have near captain level strength, even Bankai."

"How…How did you know about that?" Ikkaku began to grind his teeth.

"Sutegoueru, the zanpakuto wielded by Sozo Menboku continuously searches for food to satiate its endless hunger. It's food is entities who have achieved bankai, so even if you have not released the power in range yet, Sutegoueru will still pay close attention to you, and I can pick up on that attention."

"Whatever! So you know, be nice and don't tell anyone."

"Don't tell anyone, so it's a secret…As you wish, in return I have a request as well. You mustn't unleash your bankai, lest Sutegoueru devour you."

"Deal, now are you ready to fight?"

"Not really, I had no intention of fighting you."

"TOO BAD!" Ikkaku ran forward ready to attack.

"Bakudo 63: Sajo Sabaku." An ethereal chain wrapped itself around Ikkaku's body anchoring him to the ground. "Now then, good bye."

"Are you kidding me? That's it! One little binding spell and you think fights over! That's unacceptable!" HE paused while he laughed slightly. "I guess I was a little rude, attacking you before telling you my full name. I'm Ikkaku Madarame, 3rd seat of squad 10 under Kenpachi Zaraki! We in squad 10 fight to the…"

"death. I've heard that speech more times then I'd like to, many times from the same people. But I don't enjoy killing people."

"So you're a nice guy right? At what point does that exempt you from the fight?" Ikkaku began to hum and the chain that held him began to shake. Then it shattered all together.

Kaku was honestly shocked. _'Breaking kido with just muscle power! This man is insane!"_ He interrupted his thoughts to block the attack that came at him. But the sword he blocked was just a sheathe. The true blade came up quickly from underneath. Kaku moved his body back and narrowly avoided a wound.

"You're nimble! Keep it up now!" Ikkaku continued with a barrage of attacks using both the sheathe and the sword. At one point he made a swing with both together, but Kaku was able to block them. "That's good. So tell me, what's your name?"

"Kaku."

Ikkaku leapt away. "Wow, Ikkaku and Kaku. How very coincidental. Then again that's not your full name is it? I know enough to figure out that your little group are ancient Shinigami, so why don't you cut the bull shit and tell me what your full name is, including rank. Then after that I'll need to know that sword's name when you release it."

"You…are a straightforward one aren't you. Alright then, my name, it's, Giru Kakuda, former captain of squad 12, and my zanpakuto, its full name is Furukitsune no Konsei _(Mixed voices of the Trickster fox)_ , but just Furukitsune will do for now. Speak!" His sword transformed into the leather strap and wrapped itself around his arm all the way up to his elbow. Even his fingers were covered. He even held his arm forward open palmed to show the jewel on the palm to Ikkaku.

"With a form like that it must be a kido based blade, just the opposite of mine. Extend, Hozukimaru!"

"Interesting form, and you are correct, this is a kido based blade, but you have no idea to what extent." Without another utterance Kaku launched a red blast forward. In response Ikkaku dodged to the side, and in an interesting move swung his released zanpakuto much like an extended bat, catching the spell on the blade and causing it to explode near him, but not near enough to harm him. The explosion served as cover, enabling Ikkaku to rapidly approach without being seen.

The squad eleven elite made several lunging attacks with the halberd but all were dodged. He followed up by spinning the weapon and ended by making a fast horizontal slash. _'To fast to dodge and noting to block with, how boring.'_

To his amazement Kaku caught the blade of the halberd as though it were nothing. The renegade quickly put his other hand forward and said "Hado 3: Byakurai"

It was angled in such a way that Ikkaku could get out of the way, but in doing so he saw that he was moving right towards an iron cube that had appeared out of nowhere. "…the hell?!'

The cube moved at an intense rate, crashing into Ikkaku and carrying him through several walls before randomly stopping. As he slid off the mass and began to stand up again it slammed down on his back, pinning him to the ground on all fours.

"I'll tell you, my Zanpakuto's power. Furukitsune assisted me in creating and recording the first 200 kido spells, and he is no less knowledgable about them then myself, his power is to cast any of those spells silently. A second power, is this, unison." He gripped both of his hands together and squatted. "Bakudo 75, Bakudo 79, Gochutekkan, Gamigami Senretsu _(gripping battle lines)_"

The cube did not fade, instead it was simply joined by the five pillars, which crushed Ikkaku's extremities to the ground, and allowed the cube to flatten against him. After this innumerous white lines sprouted from the ground, draping over and entwining with the two seals already in place. Once they were finished the tips rushed back into the ground, tightening the entire formation before the glow died down and they took on the appearance of silver threads. Ikkaku still existed underneath the structure, but movement was out of the question.

Yumichika watched and shivered in fear. He pointed his sword at the renegade and released it. _'Ikkaku can't see right now, so it should be safe to use it.'_ "Sakikure!" A stream of green energy rushed out from the five fold blades and surrounded Kaku. The renegade didn't even flinch, even as the green faded away. "Imp…How…?"

In the blink of an eye Kaku was right before Yumichika. "an absorption type zanpakuto, I've seen them before. The only problem is they need to be able to find the source of reiatsu they wish to drain off of, and to things like that, I'm invisible. Your abilities will be even less effective then your friends. For the sake of simplicity, please stand down."

Yumichika shook with mixed fear and fury, and inevitably gave into the former. He dropped his resealed zanpakuto and looked away.

"Good choice." And Kaku was gone.

* * *

Renji continued to track that unusually high reiatsu source. "Whoever it is they aren't joking around, they are moving at a very high speed. But staying in this general area." He stopped and looked around. He closed his eyes to sharpen his senses. _'Someone got into a fight, but I can't tell who, and there is someone else following this one, is it Ikkaku? No, it's…' _He broke from his thoughts to quickly move towards the other person. It didn't take him long to catch up. "I knew it, lieutenant Hisagi."

"Lieutenant Abarai."

"Have you seen Ikkaku anywhere?"

"He and Ayasegawa were over in that area where the commotion was a moment ago. I'm pretty sure he's still alive. The enemy was using mostly binding type spells."

"Right." _'How could he tell so much from all the way out here?'_ "Do we know anything about the one we're chasing?"

"Nothing, but it seems that it's likely a captain level opponent. That's why I'm glad you're here."

"Don't get to hopeful, one of them has an ability that makes using Bankai impossible, even for their side."

"Then at least things are even. Let's go."

* * *

"At least I know my way around a little better this time, Yoruichi where do think we'll be needed most?"

Ichigo was leaping after Yoruichi as they quickly moved through the city. "No Idea, but I recognize that reiatsu, it's the one I fought last time I want a rematch."

"Fine, you go do that, think you can tell me where the boss is?"

A moment later, his question was answered. A wave of reiatsu sweat over the city, alerting even the dimmest of Shinigami that two massive forces were clashing. Moments later even their ears could pick up the sounds of the conflict. Ichigo's head spun to look at the central towers of Seireitei, where a fiery explosion had completely decimated one of the towers. It was quickly followed by more destruction, and the echoing sound of stone falling and crashing.

Ichigo started in that direction before stopping himself, to look back at Yoruichi.

She closed her eyes. "I won't stop you. Just be careful." He nodded. "And on more thing, it's something Kisuke mentioned to me. You may be able to use your bankai without activating Sozo's power. I'm not certain, but it may be possible, because you have a step above that level."

Ichigo's thoughts drifted to his hollow side. It had been quite a while since he had unleashed it. But it made sense, as the hollow part was the self admitted true form of his power. "Got it." He rushed off towards the central towers.

Yoruichi on the other hand began looking for her opponent.

* * *

"Calibration complete. Ahhhhhh, there's a reading. Just as expected from the intelligence. Let's move."

Nemu looked over her captain with a minor amount of disdain. She reasoned that it had always been there, but recent events had just made it more visible. Still she hid it, and didn't act on it. She even hid a small amount of disgust for his new appearance. His right eye had a monocle in front of it, which seemed to magnify the size of his eye to nearly twice the size of the other. The chain from the monocle hung down a few inches before looping up and attaching to his ear dome. His hair was a spiked Mohawk, and his hat featured two white spikes, not sideways anymore but straight back framing the Mohawk.

"Stop staring into space and move you useless girl!"

"Of course Mayuri-sama." She meant the statement, even her newfound disgust with certain aspects of her father didn't change the fact that he had created her, and she owed him at least respect and obedience. _'At least that much…'_ Her thoughts drifted back to Uryu, but she quieted them. _'My first allegiance is to Mayuri-sama.'_

* * *

A/N: So someone please get back to me on my request, and I'll remain attached to this weekly schedule.


End file.
